OCT    31  1968 


MORMONISM  IN  ALL  AGES : 


RISE,  PROGRESS,  AND  CAUSES 


DEC   7  1917 
.  MORMONISM; 

WITH   THE 


BIOGRAPHY  OF  ITS  AUTHOR  AND  FOUNDER, 


JOSEPH  SMITH,  JUNIOR, 


BY  PROFESSOR  J.  B. TURNER, 

ILLINOIS  COLLEGE,  JACKSONVILLE,  ILL. 


AND  THAT  PROPHET,  OR  THAT  DREAMER  OF  DREAMS,  SHALL  BE 

PUT  TO  DEATH." Deut.  xUl.  5. 

"  WHEREFORE  REBUKE  THEM    SHARPLY." TitUS,  t.  13. 


NEW   YORK: 
PUBLISHED  BY  PLATT  &  PETERS, 

OFFICE   OF   AMERICAN   EIBLICAL   REPOSITORY   AND   AMERICAN   ECLECTIC,    BRICK 
CHURCH   CHAPEL,   36   PARK   ROW,   FRONTING   THE   CITY   HALL. 

LONDON  :  WILEY  &  PUTNAM, 

35    PATERNOSTER    ROW. 


Entered  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1842,  by 

Platt  &  Peters, 

In  the  Clerk's  Office  of  the  District  Court  for  the  Southern  District  of 

New-York. 


INTRODUCTION. 

The  Mormons  boast  of  one  hundred  thousand  adhe- 
rents in  this  country,  and  more  than  ten  thousand  in  Great 
Britain,  where  their  faith  is  making  rapid  progress.  This 
may  be  an  exaggeration  ;  but,  at  all  events,  it  is  time  the 
absurdities  of  their  scheme  were  exposed.  They  are,  in  truth, 
the  most  dangerous  and  virulent  enemies  to  our  political  and 
religious  purity,  and  our  social  and  civil  peace,  that  now  exist 
in  the  Union  :  not  so  much,  however,  on  the  ground  of  their 
direct,  as  of  their  indirect  influence.  The  ravages  in  the 
front  of  their  march  are  far  less  to  be  dreaded,  than  the  moral 
pestilence  which  follows  them.  The  bubbles  of  fanaticism, 
it  is  true,  leap  and  sparkle  around  their  prow,  but  the  dull 
and  sullen  waves  of  atheism  roll,  and  spread  wide,  in  their 
wake  behind.  It  has  ever  been  true  that  they  have  made 
one  hundred  infidels  to  every  dozen  converts.  This  fact  has 
not  been  properly  heeded.  There  is  much  reason  to  believe 
that  many  of  their  popular  leaders  are  at  heart  infidels. 
Those  who  can  believe  that  skeptical  and  ambitious  men,  who 
could  not  be  converted  to  Christianity,  have  been  really  made 
to  believe  in  Joe  Smith,  may  do  so  if  they  choose.  The  mul- 
titudes who  fall  into  their  ranks  and  retire,  are,  in  general, 
reduced  to  absolute  atheism.  Some  are  recovered  again  : 
many  are  not,but  sink  into  still  deeper  and  stronger  delusions. 

In  their  public  addresses,  nothing  is  more  common  than 
to  hear  them  defend  the  Book  of  Mormon,  in  promiscuous 
assemblies,  by  attacking  and  ridiculing  the  Bible,  either 
directly  or  indirectly.  Their  object  generally  is  to  show  that 
if  the  Book  of  Mormon  is  ridiculous,  in  whole  or  in  part,  the 
Bible  is  so  too.  By  these  and  similar  processes,  they  succeed 
in  affecting  the  minds  of  the  thoughtless  multitude  with  the 


4  INTRODUCTION* 

vague  impression  that  the  Book  of  Mormon  is  at  least  as  truly 
of  divine  authority  as  the  Bible.  A  few  receive  both,  as 
divine  ;  a  far  greater  number  make  up  their  minds  to  have 
nothing  to  do  with  either. 

Even  the  most  pious  and  devout  members  of  the  professed 
church  of  the  Mormons  labor  hard,  at  all  times  and  in  all 
places,  to  show  that  "  if  the  gifts  of  miracle,  healing,  pro- 
phecy, &c,  are  not  still  in  the  true  church,  the  Bible  must 
be  false.*'  To  the  ignorant,  everywhere,  they  make  this 
appear  plausible.  They  then  show  that  no  church  pretends 
to  these  gifts  except  their  own,  while  they  themselves  still 
fail,  totally,  to  exhibit  them  to  the  public.  Yet  they  claim  to 
possess  these  gifts,  and  bring  forward  witnesses  from  among 
the  initiated,  who  testify  that  they  have  seen  them  exercised. 
Thousands  are  convinced  by  this  argument  that  the  Bible  is 
false,  and  perhaps  tens  that  Mormonism  is  true.  Hence  we 
find  the  books  of  Smith  in  the  houses  and  hands  of  infidels, 
who  will  neither  read  nor  tolerate  the  Bible  :  and  no  class  are 
so  full  of  charity,  sympathy,  and  compassion  for  the  Mormons, 
as  avowed  unbelievers  in  the  divine  authority  of  the  Scrip- 
tures, or  downright  Atheists.  The  secret  is  here  :  by  tolera- 
ting the  dreamy  visions  of  Joe  Smith,  they  are  enabled  with 
more  ease  to  dispense  with  Jesus  Christ  and  his  doctrines. 

Mormonism  always  fights  with  desperation;  and,  if  it  can- 
not save  its  own  life,  it  resolves  to  stab  all  other  faiths,  good 
and  bad.  Here  lies  another  of  the  secrets  both  of  its  triumphs 
and  its  havoc.  It  throws  multitudes  into  this  predicament. 
It  urges  them  to  feel  and  to  say — "  We  must  be  either  Mormons 
or  Deists."  Some  dread  the  latter;  many  more  shrink  back 
from  the  former.  It  concentrates  all  its  energies,  to  throw  the 
minds  of  those  who  will  listen  to  its  appeals,  at  once,  and  at  all 
hazards,  into  such  a  position.  Can  any'one,  of  common  sense, 
doubt  the  result,  whether  it  were  publicly  apparent  or  not  ? 

The  author  of  this  volume  has  desired  to  meet  and  repulse 
both  of  the  above  tendencies  of  the  Mormon  scheme.     He 


INTRODUCTION.  5 

has  aimed  to  place  the  Bible  and  the  Book  of  Mormon  in  their 
true  relative  positions  ;  and  to  show  that  the  distance  which 
separates  them  is  infinite ;  the  one  proceeding  from  the  light 
of  heaven,  the  other  from  the  chaos  and  darkness  of  the  pit. 
He  has  no  personal  ill-will  towards  any  of  the  Mormons. 
As  neighbors  and  fellow-citizens,  he  would  desire,  in  all  his 
social  intercourse  with  them,  to  treat  them  with  kindness  and 
respect.  But  to  treat  their  opinions,  or  their  books,  in  a  simi- 
lar manner,  is  beyond  the  reach  of  his  capacity.  Nor  does 
he  believe  that  the  public  good  either  requires  or  admits  it. 
"  Soft  answers  may  turn  away  wrath,"  but  they  cannot  cure 
fanatics.  Tjie  faith  of  the  Mormons,  and  the  practices  by 
which  it  has  been  propagated,  are  of  a  class,  which,  "  to  be 
hated,  needs  but  to  be  seen"  in  their  true  light.  They  re- 
quire, therefore,  to  be  exposed.  Their  Prophet  complains  that 
others  have  called  him  an  impostor  and  a  knave.  It  will  be 
for  himself  and  others  to  judge,  whether  this  book  does  not 
frove  him  such.  What  course  he  and  his  friends  may  take 
in  reference  to  it,  is  uncertain.  They  may  pass  it  by  in  silent, 
affected  contempt.  They  may  call  it  all  so  many  "  dissen- 
ters' and  Gentiles'  lies."  They  may  also  hunt  out  all  the 
errors,  misprints,  and  misquotations,  or  inaccurate  references, 
which  doubtless  will  be  found  here,  as  well  as  in  the  inspired 
works  of  Smith,  and  array  these,  as  a  specimen  of  the  whole 
argument,  before  their  credulous  readers.  There  is  one 
thing,  however,  they  will  not  do :  they  will  not  recommend  the 
book  as  it  is,  to  the  perusal  of  their  followers,  as  a  means 
of  strengthening  their  faith.  Yet  they  may  even  •pretend  to 
do  this,  in  order  to  falsify  our  prediction.  As  in  the  game  of 
"  outwitting  the  devil,"  which  we  shall  have  occasion  to  state, 
a  few  months  reflection  will  doubtless  enable  Smith's  divinity 
to  hit  upon  the  most  prudent  course,  whether  silence,  or  con- 
tempt, or  review. 

Like  all  other  fanaticisms,  Mormonism  is  adapted  in  its 
own  nature  to  awaken  either  the  indignation  and  contempt, 


6  INTRODUCTION. 

or  the  sympathy  and  compassion  of  mankind.  It  is  not  the 
design  of  this  book  to  excite  the  latter  ;  but  rather,  by  in- 
voking the  former,  to  exterminate,  if  possible,  that  silly 
credulity  on  which  all  similar  delusions  rest.  The  folly  of 
Mormonism  and  the  Mormons,  and  the  turpitude  of  their 
leaders,  are  the  principal  themes  of  our  pages.  We  leave 
to  others  the  appropriate  task  of  bewailing  the  miseries  and. 
ruin  of  this  strange  and  extravagant  enthusiasm. 

The  chapter  on  "  Fanaticisms"  may  seem  to  some  useless  ; 
to  others  harsh,  misanthropic,  and  injurious.  But  there  are 
particular  reasons  for  presenting  the  subject  of  human  cre- 
dulity in  its  most  gross  and  revolting  aspects,  aside  from  its 
direct  bearing  on  Mormonism.  Skeptical  writers  often  in- 
sinuate, that  if  Christians  only  knew  what  they  know  of  hu- 
man credulity,  it  would  destroy  their  belief  in  all  forms  of 
faith,  Christianity  not  excepted.  There  is  therefore  an  ad- 
vantage in  admitting,  in  the  outset,  even  more  than  they 
claim  on  this  point,  and  expressing  it  in  terms  equally  severe; 
not  only  because  it  is  true,  but  also  because  it  prepares  the 
way  more  effectually  to  demolish  and  annihilate  their  absurd 
inferences  from  that  truth.  The  facts  presented,  both  in  this 
and  the  other  chapters,  are  indeed  far  more  numerous  than 
it  would  be  either  needful  or  proper  to  quote  in  a  strictly  phi- 
losophical essay  on  these  subjects.  But  if  we  would  increase 
the  real  power  of  true  religion,  we  must  first  weaken  popu- 
lar credulity.  To  accomplish  this  we  must  exhibit  facts. 
Mere  reasoning,  with  a  bare  allusion  to  the  facts,  can  never 
produce  the  desired  effect  in  the  mass  of  minds.  Again,  we 
ought  to  take  out  of  the  hands  of  the  skeptic  the  immense  ad- 
vantage which  he  gains,,  in  first  presenting  such  facts,  and 
then  wielding  them  as  arguments  against  Christianity,  by 
pretending  that  Christians  are  either  ignorant  of  them,  or 
afraid  to  allude  to  them.  "  We,  the  philosophers,"  say  they, 
"  will  give  you  facts,  equally  as  wonderful  as  any  pretend- 
ed miracles,  which  the  priests  strive  to  keep  you  ignorant  of." 


INTRODUCTION.  7 

The  skeptic  should  not  have  this  advantage.  Better  to  give 
him  his  rope,  and  then  strangle  him  with  the  knots  which  he 
ties  with  his  own  hands. 

Chapter  fourth  presents  only  an  outline,  and  by  no  means 
a  full  view,  of  the  proper  evidences  of  Christianity.  In  giving 
up  human  testimony  entirely,  as  a  proper  basis  of  religious 
faith,  it  may  strike  some  minds  that  we  must  also  give  up 
Christianity.  It  is  hoped  that  this  chapter  will  lead  them  to 
such  reflections  as  will  show  that  they  are  mistaken — that 
they  have  really  no  ground  for  any  such  fear. 

The  chapters  on  the  history,  books,  and  faith  of  the  Mor- 
mons may  s*eem  still  more  objectionable  to  many — on  the 
ground  that  the  subjects  are  often  treated  with  too  much  harsh- 
ness and  levity.  The  reader  is  requested  to  consider,  in  the 
first  place,  that  it  is  difficult  to  make  that  which  is  in  its  own 
nature  ridiculous,  appear  respectable,  when  truly  presented ; 
and  that,  it  is  indeed  hard  to  reason  down,  by  mere  argument, 
what  has  in  no  manner  been  reasoned  up.  To  those  who 
can  appreciate  sound  reason  these  chapters  are  unnecessary. 
But  to  the  multitudes  who  are  endangered  by  Mormonism 
mere  reason  can  do  no  good.  Throwing  aside  all  other  con- 
siderations, the  author,  in  these  chapters,  has  endeavored  so 
to  present  the  subject,  that  its  inherent  grossness  and  absurd- 
ity may  be  felt,  even  by  those  whose  reason  cannot  perceive 
the  truth.  He  would  not  simply  arm  them  with  arguments, 
but  with  what,  in  many  cases,  is  more  powerful  than  argu- 
ments— with  contempt.  A  Mormon,  it  is  believed,  will  find 
it  difficult  either  to  reason  with,  or  to  proselyte  any  man  who 
has  read  this  book,  however  unlearned  he  may  be.  This 
opinion  is  based  not  on  conjecture,  but  on  actual  experiment. 

By  most,  probably,  the  seeming  spirit  of  the  book  will  be 
deemed  its  greatest  fault.  It  is  hoped,  however,  that  what 
may  seem  useless  and  even  offensive  to  some,  may  prove 
useful  to  others.  The  subject  is  peculiar  :  the  classes  of 
minds  to  be  influenced  are  equally  peculiar :  and  if  the  au- 


8  INTRODUCTION. 

thor  has  wholly  missed  his  aim,  he  hopes  some  one  more  able^ 
and  more  successful,  will  soon  supply  the  deficiency.  There 
is  need  of  it.  Yet  all  must  be  aware  that  to  write  a  book 
on  such  a  subject  is  indeed  a  thankless  task. 

The  present  volume  is  the  work  of  a  few  weeks'  leisure. 
Neither  other  duties,  nor  the  merits  of  the  subject,  would 
allow  of  expending  either  time  or  thought  on  mere  style,  as 
such.  It  is  not  probable  that  any  able  critic  will  trouble 
himself  to  read,  much  less  to  review,  what  is  here  written. 
If  he  should,  he  will  probably  find,  so  far  as  style  is  con- 
cerned, much  to  condemn,  and  little  to  approve.  The  ordi- 
nary reader,  it  is  hoped,  will  pardon  the  book  as  it  is  ;  and, 
if  his  taste  is  sometimes  offended,  apply  himself  more  exclu- 
sively to  the  thought :  if  that  is  generally  understood,  it  is  all 
the  author  has  found  time  to  attempt,  and  more,  probably, 
than  he  has  performed.  If  the  book  in  any  degree  tends  to 
strengthen  rational  faith,  and  annihilate  its  antagonist  credu- 
lity, it  will  be  all  that  can  be  hoped  from  it.  Proximity  to 
the  evil,  disgust  with  its  authors,  abhorrence  of  their  impu- 
dent perfidy,  their  political  intrigues,  and  pretended  sanctity, 
together  with  the  constant  fear  of  an  impending  civil  war, 
may  induce  those  near  at  hand,  both  to  think,  feel,  and  speak 
with  greater  severity,  than  others,  more  remote,  may  judge 
either  wise  or  expedient. 

It  is  by  no  means  intended,  however,  that  the  great  body 
of  the  Mormons  are  obnoxious  to  these  charges.  They  are, 
in  general,  an  ignorant,  simple,  honest,  industrious,  deluded 
people.  But  their  leaders  are  not  deluded.  They  know 
perfectly  well  the  full  scope  of  their  own  perfidious  aims  ; 
which,  absurd  as  they  may  seem  to  some,  are  neither  more 
nor  less  than  a  religious  monarchy  in  these  free  states,  of 
which  they  themselves  are  to  be  the  centres  and  the  demigods. 

Mormonism,  if  suffered  to  spread  extensively,  and  unite 
with  Atheism  and  Romanism,  its  natural  allies,  will  soon  have 
power  to  disturb,  not  single  states  only,  but  the  entire  Union. 


CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  I. 

ORIGIN  AND  HISTORY  OF  MORMONISM. 

4 

Mormon  Works— Smith's  conversion— Vision— Obtains  the  plates 
—Employs  Harris— Mode  of  translation— His  books— New  Bi- 
ble— First  Mormon  church — Union  with  Rigdon,  in  Ohio — 
Rigdon's  doctrines  and  spasms— His  conversion  and  baptism 
—Removal  of  the  church  to  Ohio— Kirtland  miracles— Reflec- 
tions on  the  real  origin  of  the  Mormon  doctrines,  and  the 
causes  of  their  original  success       .  .  .  .13 

CHAPTER  II. 

HISTORY  OF  MORMONISM,  CONTINUED 

Endowment  and  journey  to  Missouri — Multitude  of  elders  and 
proselytes — Character  of  proselytes— Gift  of  tongues— Big  firm, 
banks,  temple,  study  of  Hebrew,  &c— Mormon  pentecost— 
Removal  to  Mt.  Zion,  Mo. — Mob  at  Jackson  co. — Consequent 
revelation  to  Smith — Army  of  Zion — Retreats— Disturbance  in 
Caldwell— Salt  Sermon— The  Danites— Poisoning  the  wells— 
The  Destructionists — Rigdon's  famous  Fourth  of  July  oration 
— The  prophet's  harangue  at  the  head  of  his  troops — Expul- 
sion of  the  Mormons  from  Missouri — Tragedy  at  How's  Mills 
— Mob  law — Arrival  of  the  Mormons  at  Quincy — Number  and 
progress  of  the  Mormons — Charters — Result  of  persecution — 


10  CONTENTS. 

Authorities,  proclamations,  recent  revelations,  and  present  de- 
signs of  Smith — New  temple — Baptism  for  the  dead — Polls — 
Dangers  of  civil  war  .  .  .  .  .34 

CHAPTER  III. 

COMPARISON  OF  MORMONISM  WITH  SIMILAR  FANATICISMS. 

Instinct  of  faith — Instinct  of  independence — Desire  of  power — 
Operation  of  these  to  produce  general  credulity  and  fanaticism 
— False  Messiahs — Peculiar  analogous  fanaticisms — Serpenti- 
nians — Millenarians — Circoncelleones — Stylites — Eonites — Be- 
ghards — Quietists — Whippers,  Dancers,  Jumpers,  and  men  of 
Understanding — Anabaptists — Davidists — Illuminati —  Knip- 
perdolings — Madame  Bourignon — Seekers — Muggletonians — 
Camisards — Falling  Swords — Swedenborgians — Salem  witch- 
craft—  Glassites — Ann  Lee — Jemima  Wilkinson  —  Joanna 
Southcote — Richard  Brothers — French  infidels — Mad,  Thom, 
Dilks,  Davidson,  Miss  Campbell,  Irving,  Matthias,  and  Joe 
Smith — Successive  crops  of  fanatics,  and  causes — General 
agreement  of  fanatics — The  bottle  conjurer — Love  of  exciting 
marvels — Rule  for  fanatics  .  .  .  .65 

CHAPTER  IV. 

GROUNDS  OF  THE  CREDIBILITY  OF  A  DIVINE  REVELATION. 

Grounds  of  caution — Charter  of  freedom — Basis  of  false  schemes 
of  faith — 1.  Force — 2.  Sympathy — 3.  Fanatical  experience — 
4.  Human  testimony — God's  judgment  of — Value  of  testimony 
— Puerility  of  skeptics — True  grounds  of  religious  belief— Ex- 
istence of  the  Deity — Personal  experience — Inherent  truth  of 
Christianity — Objections,  interpolations,  &c. — Proofs  from  in- 
evitable inference — God's  mode  of  furnishing  the  facts — Man's 
mode  of  explaining  them — Origin  of  the  Bible — Authority  of 
the   Bible — Laws  of  nature — Moral   necessity  of  miracles — 


CONTENTS.  11 

Hume's   sophism — Examples  of  facts  to  be  explained — Con- 
clusion        .......  110 

CHAPTER  V. 

CLAIMS  OF  THE  BOOK  OF   MORMON  TO    CREDIBILITY   AND  AUTHORITY. 

Its  claims — Character  of  Smith — Contrasted  with  Moses — The 
sainted  twelve  of  Smith— Testimony  of  Smith's  three  witness- 
es— Character  of  Harris  by  Smith — by  his  own  wife — Charac- 
ter of  Cowdery  and  Whitmer  by  Smith — by  others — Capacity 
of  witnesses — Eye  of  faith,  power  of  God,  &c. — Disinterested- 
ness of  witnesses — Testimony  of  the  eight  witnesses — Smith's 
mode  of  translation  ......  149 

CHAPTER  VI. 

CLAIMS  OF  THE  BOOK  OF  MORMON  TO    CREDIBILITY   AND    AUTHORITY, 
CONTINUED. 

Evidence  from  prophecy — Internal  evidence — Jared's  barges; — 
One  hundred  and  sixteen  pages  stolen — Patent  English — Style, 
authorship,  and  titles— Real  origin  of  the  Book  of  Mormon- 
Origin  of  the  stone  spectacles — Smith's  four  years'  vacation — 
Testimony  of  John  Spaulding — of  Henry  Lake — The  Spauld- 
ing  Manuscript — Smith's  meeting  with  Harris — Probable  mode 
of  acquiring  the  book — Wonderful  providences — War  with 
Missouri  yet  to  come  .....  182 

CHAPTER  VII. 

ORGANIZATION  AND  DOCTRINES  OF  THE  MORMONS. 

The  two  priesthoods — First  presidency,  &c— Powers  of  Smith- 
Number  of  Dignitaries— Doctrines  of  faith— Trinity— Mormon 
sacrifice  of  all  things — Miracles — Gifts  of  healing,  prophets, 
&c. — Casting  out  devils — Hierarchy — Witness  of  the  Spirit — 
Equality  with  God— Pre-existence— Preaching— Creeds— Real 


12  CONTENTS. 

belief  of  Mormons — Suppressed  and  altered  revelations — Pa- 
triarchal blessings     ......  223 

CHAPTER  VIII. 

PROGRESS  OF  MORMONISM — ITS  CAUSES,  ILLUSTRATED  BY  NUMEROUS 
EXAMPLES. 

Morbid  imagination — Morbid  emotions — Popular  errors  as  regards 
human  testimony — as  regards  influences  of  Holy  Spirit — St. 
Bernard — Land  pirate-^Sympathetic  convulsions — Black-death 
in  Germany — Terantismus  in  Italy — Tigretia  of  Abyssinia — 
Tremblers  of  Cevennes,  and  Camisards — Convulsions  of  St 
Medcord — Animal  Magnetism — Convulsions  at  Harlsem — at 
Anglesea  and  Unst — Kirk  officer — English  factory — Revivals 
at  Everton,  Cambuslang,  and  Kentucky — Jerks,  Barks, and  Mor- 
mons— Philosophy  of  these  phenomena — Consequences  of  ab- 
surd opinions — Internal  revelations,  visions,  raptures,  holy 
comforts,  &c. — Old  Monks — Art  of  dreaming — Marvellous  ex- 
perience of  the  Mormons — Sectarianism — Mystic  interpreta- 
tion— Mystic  and  Mormon  deity — Mormon  facility  of  argument 

I    — War  on  human  nature — Gifts  of  healing — Dr.  Gerbi's  bugs 

— Scurvy  at  Pruda — Perkins'  metallic  tractors; — Prophet  Aus- 

'  tin — These  cures  not  miracles — Mormons  increase   through 

neglect — Policy  of  their  leaders       .  249 


MORMONISM    IN   ALL   AGES. 


CHAPTER  I. 

ORIGIN  AND  HISTORY  OF  MORMONISM. 

Mormon  Works — Smith's  conversion — Vision — Obtains  the  plates — Em, 
ploys  Harris — Mode  of  translation — His  books — New  Bible— First 
Mormon  church — Union  with  Rigdon,  in  Ohio — Rigdon's  doctrines 
and  spasms — His  conversion  and  baptism — Removal  of  the  church  to 
Ohio — Kirtland  miracles— Reflections  on  the  real  origin  of  the  Mor- 
mon doctrines,  and  the  causes  of  their  original  success. 

Though  the  Mormons  profess  that  all  their  members 
are  personally  inspired,  and  directed  of  the  Lord  in  all 
they  do,  in  proportion  to  their  individual  faith,  still  they 
have  but  two  books  which  claim  to  be  pre-eminently 
Divine  Revelations,  viz.,  the  Book  of  Mormon  and  the 
Book  of  Doctrines  and  Covenants,  both  the  offspring 
of  J.  Smith. 

Besides  these,  they  have  several  other  books  of  great 
authority  and  influence  in  the  church,  as  Pratt's  Voice 
of  Warning,  reserved  volumes  and  numbers  of  their 
past  and  present  periodicals,  from  the  early  history  of 
their  church  to  the  present  day — e.  g.,  Morning  and 
Evening  Star ;  Messenger  and  Advocate ;  Elders' 
Journal,  together  with  numerous  pamphlets,  published 
occasionally,  in  defence  of  their  church,  by  their  leading 
elders  and  functionaries. 


14  smith's  conversion. 

The  Book  of  Mormon  was  first  published  by  J. 
Smith,  1830,  at  Palmyra,  N.  York,  and  professes  to  be 
the  foundation  of  their  whole  scheme  ;  in  short,  a  new 
revelation  from  God,  containing  "  the  fulness  of  the 
gospel  of  Jesus  Christ,"  by  which  God  shall  "  work  a 
great  and  marvellous  work,"  "  bringing  to  nought  the 
wisdom  of  the  wise,"  "  gather  the  children  of  Israel," 
and  "  convince  Jew  and  Gentile  that  Jesus  is  the 
Christ."* 

Smith's  account  of  the  manner  in  which  he  dis- 
covered the  golden  plates,  from  which  he  translated 
the  Book  of  Mormon,  is  as  follows. 

In  the  year  1 823,  when  our  prophet  was  about  seven- 
teen years  of  age,  his  mind  became,  for  the  first  time, 
deeply  excited  on  the  subject  of  religion,  by  Mr.  Lane, 
a  devoted  and  talented  elder  of  the  Methodist  church, 
under  whose  preaching  there  was  "  a  great  awakening," 
and  numbers,  among  whom  were  our  prophet  and 
several  members  of  his  family,  were  "  professedly 
added  to  the  kingdom  of  the  Lord."  After  the  revival 
ceased,  the  usual  strife  for  proselytes  between  the 
several  sects  commenced  ;  this  resulted,  so  far  as  the 
Smiths  were  concerned,  in  bringing  the  mother,  one 
sister,  and  two  brothers  into  the  Presbyterian  church  ; 
but  leaving  Joseph,  as  he  states,  in  disgust  with  all  the 
sects,  and  almost  in  despair  of  ever  coming  to  the 
knowledge  of  the  truth,  amid  so  many  contradictory 
and  conflicting  claims.  He  resorted  to  prayer  for  "  a 
full  manifestation  of  Divine  approbation,"  and  "  for  the 
assurance  that  he  was  accepted  of  him."  This  occurred 
some  time  in  the  winter  of  1823. 

*  Sec  titlepage  ;  also  the  words  of  the  angel  to  J.  Smith.  Messen- 
ger and  Advocate,  Vol.  I.  p.  198. 


the  angel's  appearance.  15 

On  the  memorable  evening  of  the  21st  of  September 
following,  after  the  rest  of  the  family  had  retired, 
while  engaged  in  meditation,  watching,  and  prayer  to 
God,  suddenly  his  room  was  filled  with  light,  "  far  more 
pure  and  glorious  than  the  light  of  day,"  and  above  the 
brightness  of  the  sun,  when  lo  !  a  form  stood  before 
him,  whose  face  was  as  lightning,  and  whose  person 
beamed  forth  still  more  refulgent  and  unutterable  splen- 
dor. This  personage  was  of  somewhat  more  than 
ordinary  size,  his  garments  were  pure  white,  and  appa- 
rently without  seam.  This  angel  (as  he  proved  to  be) 
proceeded  to  inform  Smith  that  his  sins  were  forgiven, 
and  that  the  Lord  had  chosen  him  to  bring  forth  and 
translate  the  Book  of  Mormon,  which  one  Moroni,  the 
last  of  the  Nephites,  of  the  seed  of  Israel,  had  abridged 
from  the  records  of  his  tribe,  and  engraved  on  plates 
of  gold,  and  deposited  in  a  stone  box  upon  the  hill 
Camorah,  in  Manchester,  N.  Y.,  about  three  miles 
from  his  father's  house,  where  said  records  had  already 
laid  deposited  about  1400  years.*  Notwithstanding 
all  these  marvels  were  twice  repeated  before  morning, 
and  definite  instructions  given,  still  Smith  says  that  the 
next  day  he  went  to  his  "labor  as  usual."  (?)  Soon 
the  messenger  re-appeared,  and  warned  him  to  go 
immediately  to  the  spot  described,  in  search  of  the  plates.f 

He  went,  and  found  them  deposited  in  a  box  of  stone, 
near  the  surface  of  the  earth,  nicely  secured  both  from 
air  and  moisture,  by  means  of  a  peculiar  cement  applied 
to  the  joints  of  the  box.  The  plates  were  thin  leaves  of 
gold,  six  or  eight  inches  square,  and  held  together  at 
one  edge  by  metallic  rings  passing  through  each  leaf. 

On  removing  the  slight  deposit  of  earth,  and   the 

*  See  B.  of  M.,  p.  529.  t  See  Mess,  and  Adv.  p.  156. 


16  SMITH    AND    THE    PLATES. 

stone  from  the  top,  he  attempted  to  take  possession  of 
the  records  or  plates ;  but  he  received  a  shock  which 
not  only  frustrated  his  attempt,  but  also  deprived  him 
of  his  natural  strength.  This  was  repeated  three 
times,  until  finally  he  involuntarily  exclaimed  aloud, 
"Why  cannot  I  obtain  this  book?"  Suddenly  the 
angel  of  the  Lord  appears,  and  informs  him,  that  it 
was  because  he  had  on  his  way  to  the  hill  indulged  in 
mercenary  thoughts  and  desires  in  regard  to  enriching 
himself  and  his  family  by  the  possession  of  the  plates, 
and  the  sale  of  the  wonderful  book  he  was  about  to 
translate  therefrom. 

He  resorted  to  prayer ;  and  again  "  the  heavens 
were  opened,  and  the  glory  of  the  Lord  shone  around 
him."  Satan  and  his  hosts  passed  before  him,  and  the 
angel  proceeded  to  instruct  him  still  further,  declaring 
that  he  must  desire  to  obtain  and  translate  the  plates 
solely  for  the  glory  of  God,  and  the  good  of  his  fellow 
man,  without  any  selfish  or  pecuniary  desires,  either  in 
relation  to  himself  or  his  family,  else  his  gift  and  power 
would  be  taken  from  him. 

However,  he  was  not  permitted  to  take  the  plates  at 
this  time  ;  but  after  listening  to  a  long  discourse  from 
the  angel,  he  withdrew,  and  engaged  in  the  service  of 
a  man  by  the  name  of  Stowell,  who  resided  in  the 
town  of  Bainbridge,  Chenango  Co.,  N.  York.  Stowell 
employed  him,  as  Smith  says,  "  to  dig  for  a  cave  of 
silver,  secreted  by  the  Spaniards"  near  Harmony,  Penn., 
where  he  first  became  acquainted  with  Miss  Emma 
Hale,  daughter  of  Isaac  Hale,  Esq.,  of  that  place. 
He  spent  some  months,  with  several  others,  in  search 
of  this  treasure,  as  he  states,  in  the  employ  of  Stowell.* 
*  See  Adv.  Vol.  I.  p.  100 


SMITH    EMPLOYS    HARRIS.  17 

Four  years  after  this  memorable  22d  of  September, 
1823,  i.  e.  on  the  22d  of  September,  1827,  the  angel 
of  the  Lord  delivered  the  records  or  plates  of  the  Ne- 
phites  to  Joseph  Smith,  and  with  them  the  mystic 
"  Urim  and  Thummim,"  or  two  stones  set  in  a  bow, 
found  in  the  same  box  with  the  plates  ;  by  looking 
through  these,  he  was  to  be  enabled  to  translate  the 
record  from  the  reformed  Egyptian,  in  which  unknown 
tongue  they  were  first  written,  into  what  he  calls  the 
English  language. 

As  regards  his  history  and  employment  during  these 
four  years,  we  must  look  to  other  sources  for  informa- 
tion, which  we  shall  do  hereafter.  The  reader  will,  in 
the  mean  time,  bear  in  mind  this  story  of  Smith  himself. 
Neither  are  we  told  who  covered  and  secured  the  box 
again,  although  we  are  advised  that  these  four  years 
of  the  prophet's  life  did  not  roll  away  without  their 
appropriate  marvels  ;  all  which  matters,  together  with 
the  events  of  the  foregoing  history,  were  related  and 
varied  to  suit  the  exigencies  of  the  case,  until  the  year 
1834,  when  the  history  was  first  interlarded  with  pro- 
phetic declarations  of  the  angel,  which  had  already 
been  fulfilled,  the  whole  story  new  vamped,  stereotyped, 
and  given  to  the  world  for  the  edification  of  the  saints, 
in  the  columns  of  the  Messenger  and  Advocate,  under 
the  supervision  of  Smith,  and  by  the  hand  of  Oliver 
Cowdery,  in  substance  as  above  narrated. 

Martin  Harris,  the  first  dupe  and  coadjutor  of 
Smith,  at  the  time  of  these  transactions,  (in  the  fall  of 
1827,)  gave  a  very  different  account  of  the  whole 
matter,  on  the  authority  of  Smith,  to  the  editor  of  the 
Episcopal  Recorder,  to  which  I  shall  refer  the  reader, 
instead  of  repeating  the  story  here.  Of  the  character 
.    2* 


18  MODE    OF    TRANSLATION. 

of  Harris  I  shall  speak  hereafter.  However,  Smith 
persuaded  Harris  to  engage  with  him  in  translating  and 
publishing  the  book,  which  ultimately  cost  Harris  a 
farm,  worth,  as  it  is  said,  $10,000. 

At  this  time,  Smith  himself  was  both  poor  and 
unable  to  write  for  the  press  ;  Harris  therefore  loaned 
him  his  estate  for  expenditures,  and  his  hand  as  a 
scribe. 

According  to  one  account  given  by  Mr.  Harris, 
Joseph  suspended  a  thick  blanket  across  the  room,  on 
one  side  of  which  he  sat  and  looked  through  his  Urim 
and  Thummim,  or  stone  spectacles,  and  the  Lord 
caused  the  correct  translation  of  the  mystic  record  to 
pass  before  his  eyes,  word  for  word,  which  he  (Joseph) 
uttered  aloud,  a  word  at  a  time,  while  Harris  sat  on 
the  other  side  of  the  blanket,  and  wrote  down  all  as 
he  heard  it  from  Smith. 

Of  course  the  divine  wrath  was  denounced  against 
all  who  should  attempt  to  gain  a  view  of  the  plates, 
except  Smith.  This  kept  Martin  in  his  place,  though 
not  without  some  trouble,  as  sundry  revelations*  show 
in.  the  Book  of  Covenants  ;  until  he  finally  gave  place 
to  Oliver  Cowdery,  as  scribe,  by  whose  aid  the  book 
was  completed  and  published  in  1830,  three  years  after 
the  pretended  reception  of  the  plates  ;  thus  giving 
from  1823,  when  the  plates  were  discovered,  to  1827, 
when  they  were  obtaiued,  four  years,  for  general 
scheming,  and  three  years  for  translation,  from  '27  to 
'30. 

Various  other  stories  have  been  circulated  as  regards 
the  manner  of  translation ;  e.  g.,  it  is  said  by  the  Mor- 
mons that  Smith  put  his  stones  into  his  hat,  and  placed 

*  See  Book  of  Cov.  §32. 


BOOKS    OF    SMITH.  19 

his  face  close  to  them,  and  thus  saw  the  words  through 
the  stones  ;  in  reference  to  which  only  one  thing  is  im- 
portant to  be  noted,  to  wit :  they  all  agree  in  making 
the  Lord  responsible  not  only  for  the  thought,  but  also 
for  the  language  of  the  book,  from  the  necessity  of  the 
case,  for  they  all  claim  that  the  words  passed  before 
Smith's  eyes  while  looking  through  the  pellucid  stones. 

The  reader  will  please  bear  this  in  mind  while  read- 
ing the  chapter  on  internal  evidence. 

The  Book  of  Mormon  is  a  duodecimo  volume  of  588 
pages,  consisting  of  fifteen  different  books,  purporting 
to  be  written  at  different  times  by  the  authors  whose 
names  they  bear.  These  historical  books  profess  to 
cover  a  period  of  about  1000  years,  from  the  time  of 
Zedekiah,  king  of  Judea,  to  A.  D.  420. 

It  is  not  my  purpose  to  give  even  an  outline  of  this 
bundle  of  gibberish,  further  than  to  remark,  that  it  pro- 
fesses to  trace  the  history  of  the  aborigines  of  this  con- 
tinent, in  their  apostasies,  pilgrimages,  trials,  adven- 
tures, and  wars,  from  the  time  of  their  leaving  Jerusa- 
lem, in  the  reign  of  Zedekiah,  under  one  Lehi,  down 
to  their  final  disaster,  near  the  hill  Camorah,  N.  Y., 
where  Smith  found  his  bible ;  in  which  final  contest, 
according  to  the  prophet  Moroni,  about  230,000  were 
slain  in  a  single  battle,  and  he  alone  escaped  to  tell  the 
tale.  All  which  we  learn,  through  Joseph  Smith,  by 
means  of  the  plates  and  stones  already  mentioned. 
Did  not  this  book  claim  divine  authority,  it  would 
perhaps  be  about  as  harmless  as  the  same  amount  of 
nonsense  could  well  be,  and  might  be  read  with  no 
direct  evil,  excepting  loss  of  time. 

The  Book  of  Covenants  and  Revelations,  as  it  is 
called,  contains  about  250  pages,  18mo. 


20  BOOKS    OF    SMITH. 

The  first  seventy-five  pages  contain  a  series  of  seven 
lectures  on  faith,  with  questions  and  answers  appended 
to  each,  touching  peculiar  doctrines  of  the  church. 

Part  second  is  mainly  occupied  with  professed  reve- 
lations given  at  sundry  times,  by  God,  to  J.  Smith, 
respecting  the  translation  of  the  Book  of  Mormon,  the 
organization,  doctrines,  and  government  of  the  church ; 
management  of  its  finances,  sending  forth  preachers, 
building  temples  and  dwellings  for  Smith,*'  removing 
to  the  West,  founding  Mt.  Zion  in  Missouri,  and 
purchasing  lands  there,  for  an  everlasting  posses- 
sion, (?)  transferring  town-lots,  tavern-houses,  joint 
stock,  tan-yards,  chewing  tobacco,  doctoring  cows, 
feeding  horses,  hogs,  and  hens  ;  in  short,  revelations 
touching  all  those  spiritual  matters,  in  which  Joe 
Smith's  divinity,  in  this  latter-day  glory  of  the  church, 
appears  to  have  felt  a  deep  and  peculiar  interest.  This 
is  truly  the  black  book  of  Mormonism. 

The  whole  design  of  it,  from  beginning  to  end,  is,  to 
concentrate  power  and  resources  around  Joe  Smith  and 
his  compeers,  and  to  swindle  the  poor  fools  who  believe 
it  divinely  inspired,  at  once  out  of  their  money  and 
their  wits.  It  has  really  exerted  a  thousand  fold  more 
influence,  on  the  doctrines  and  destinies  of  the  Mormon 
church,  than  all  other  books  put  together  ;  still  it  is 
usually  kept  in  the  background,  and  the  Book  of  Mor- 
mon thrown  forward,  as  their  main  authority,  next  after 
the  Bible.  True,  its  main  design  is  tolerably  concealed, 
though  sufficiently  apparent  to  any  man  who  will 
compare  the  several  revelations  with  the  actual  con- 
dition and  history  of  the  church  at  the  time  they  were 
given.  But  more  of  this  hereafter. 
*  B.  C.  p.  189. 


21  NEW    BIBLE. 

Parley  P.  Pratt's  "  Voice  of  Warning"  does  not  pro- 
fess peculiar  inspiration,  but  is  considered  by  the  Mor- 
mons as  the  most  able  exposition  and  defence  of  their 
peculiar  doctrines,  especially  those  which  they  derive 
from  the  prophecies  and  those  which  pertain  to  the 
"  kingdom  of  God,"  or,  the  organization  of  the  church. 

Smith  has  another  work  of  considerable  importance 
and  interest  in  manuscript,  parts  of  which  only  have  as 
yet  been  given  to  the  world.  This  is  a  new  edition 
of  the  Holy  Scriptures,  "  Translated  through  the  power 
and  gift  of,  God,"  "  by  Joseph  Smith,  jr.,  the  Prophet 
of  the  Jford."  But  how  translated  ?  Does  Smith  un- 
derstand either  Hebrew  or  Greek  ?  Not  at  all :  but 
he  can  read  or  translate  any  thing,  through  his  famous 
stones,  even  the  gibberish,  which  the  Mormons  mumble 
over,  when  they  are  endowed  with  the  marvellous 
"gift  of  tongues,"  of  which  so  much  "  hath  been  spoken." 

The  truth  is,  Smith  at  first  knew  so  little  of  what 
was  in  the  Bible,  which  he  professed  to  believe,  that  he 
had  not  proceeded  far,  before  a  new  translation  of  that 
was  indispensable,  to  save  both  him  and  his  cause  from 
utter  disgrace  and  ruin. 

Accordingly  in  this  new  edition,  whole  verses  and  al- 
most entire  chapters  are  added  to  the  original  text  as  occa- 
sion requires.  In  proof  of  which,  compare  the  34th  of 
Exodus  and  the  24th  of  Matthew  with  this  new  trans- 
lation. But  as  these  examples  may  not  be  accessible 
to  some,  I  will  refer  to  those  extracts  quoted  from  the 
"new  translation"  in  the  Book  of  Covenants,  p.  13,  et 
seq.  ;  in  which  few  verses,  taken  from  the  first  chapters 
of  Genesis,  the  doctrines  of  the  trinity,  viz.,  Father, 
Son,  and  Holy  Spirit,  also  of  the  atonement  of  sacrifices, 


22  MORMON    CHURCHES. 

and  their  import,  are  fully  set  forth  by  the  angel  of  the 
Lord  to  Adam. 

Is  this  from  the  Hebrew  text,  or  from  Smith's  stone 
spectacles  ?  Still  these  are  far  from  being  the  worst 
examples  of  this  new  translation;  they  are  only  referred 
to  as  being  most  universally  at  hand.  I  fear  Joseph 
will  have  to  make  several  translations  more,  before  he 
will  succeed  in  making  the  Bible,  in  whole  or  in  part, 
accord  either  with  the  Mormon  bible,  or  the  Book  of 
Covenants,  or  with  the  Mormon  hierarchy  and  church 
government. 

It  is  wise  to  keep  this  new  translation  in  manuscript, 
for  the  special  use  of  the  "  saints."  The  profane  eyes  of 
the  Gentiles  might  see  more  in  it  than  is  written,  even 
though  much  more  is  written  than  ever  was  found  in 
the  original  text.  People  who  have  not  faith  never 
exercise  a  sound  and  devout  discretion  in  such  matters. 
"  But  the  Lord  knoweth  them  that  are  his."  So  says 
Joseph  Smith ;  and  it  is  kind  to  reserve  now  and  then 
a  sweet  morsel  for  their  special  benefit,  especially  as 
he  is  the  authorized  prophet  of  God,  "  to  all  nations, 
kindreds,  people,  and  tongues." 

The  remaining  periodicals  and  pamphlets  of  this  sect 
need  no  further  notice  here. 

Immediately  after  the  translation  of  the  Book  of 
Mormon,  i.  e.  on  the  6th  of  April,  1830,  the  first  Mor- 
mon church  was  organized  in  Manchester,  N.  Y.,  with 
only  six  members,  viz.,  Joseph  Smith,  sen.,  Hyrum 
Smith,  Samuel  Smith,  the  father  and  brothers  of  the 
prophet,  Oliver  Cowdery,  scribe  to  Smith,  Joseph 
Knight,  and  the  prophet.  Of  these,  of  course,  Joseph 
Smith,  jun.,  the  prophet,  was  "  called  and  ordained  an 
apostle  of  Jesus  Christ,"  and  first  elder  of  the  new 


MORMON    CHURCHES.  23 

church,  which  afterwards  assumed  the  title  of  the 
"  Church  of  Latter  Day  Saints."  Oliver  Cowdery,  the 
scribe,  was,  with  like  propriety,  appointed  second  elder.* 

Soon  after,  a  branch  was  established  at  Fayette,  and 
the  June  following,  another  in  Colesville,  N.  Y.,  not  far 
from  Bainbridge,  where  Joseph  was  employed  in  1823, 
by  Stowell,  to  dig  for  money  as  we  have  seen. 

Twenty  were  added  to  the  churches  in  Manchester 
and  Fayette  in  the  month  of  April,  and  on  the  28th  of 
June  following,  thirteen  were  added  in  Colesville. 

In  October,  1830,  the  number  had  increased  to  be- 
tween seventy  and  eighty,  when  four  of  the  elders,  P. 
P.  Pratt,  O.  Cowdery,  Peter  Whitmer,  and  Tiba  Peter- 
son, started  for  the  west,  on  a  mission  to  the  Indians; 
and  in  passing,  founded  a  branch  of  the  church  in 
Kirtland,  in  the  northeast  part  of  Ohio.  Here  they 
baptized  130  disciples  in  less  than  four  weeks,  and  be- 
fore the  next  spring,  the  number  was  increased  to 
about  1000. 

As  this  passage  in  their  history  is  somewhat  marvel- 
lous in  the  eyes  of  others,  as  well  as  in  the  estimation 
of  the  Mormons  themselves,  who  declare  "  that  the 
Holy  Spirit  was  mightily  poured  out,"  and  "  that  the 
word  of  God  grew  and  multiplied,  and  many  priests 
were  obedient  to  the  faith,"  I  shall  pause  a  moment  to 
elucidate  it. 

It  is  evident  that  here  Mormonism  first  received  a 
decided  and  resistless  impulse.  In  N.  York,  where 
Smith  was  well  known,  it  crept  in  the  dirt,  and  still 
does  to  this  day  ;  but  here  it  rose  at  once,  and  soared 
as  on  the  wings  of  the  wind.  What  then  is  the  cause 
of  this  phenomenon  ?     Many  in  the  east  have  supposed 

*  B.  of  C.  p.  77,  and  Mess,  and  Adv.,  Vol.  I,,  p.  204. 


24  PRATT    AND    RIGDON. 

that  the  backwoodsmen  of  the  west  are  of  course  either 
infidels  or  natural  fools,  in  all  matters  of  faith,  and 
therefore  ready  to  believe  this  or  any  other  novel  ab- 
surdity. I  admit  that  we  are  all,  naturally,  sufficiently 
credulous.  Nor  do  we  claim  any  more  than  our  due 
share  of  folly  in  this  respect.  But  I  think  a  more  par- 
ticular and  satisfactory  solution  of  this  question  is  at 
hand. 

The  fact  is,  Mormonism,  either  by  accident  or  in- 
trigue, here  met  for  the  first  time  and  concurred  in  a 
new  system  of  doctrines  prepared  to  its  hand,  and  thus 
gained  over  to  itself  their  original  founders,  P.  P.  Pratt 
and  Sidney  Rigdon,  and  secured  not  only  their  talent 
and  zeal  in  its  behalf,  but  also  that  of  all,  or  at  least,  a 
great  part  of  their  followers.  This  happy  concurrence 
of  circumstances,  united  with  the  wily  policy  and  stirring 
eloquence  of  Pratt  and  Rigdon,  stirred  up  a  popular  fa- 
natical sympathy,  and  set  the  ball  to  rolling  with  resist- 
less force.     But  to  be  more  particular  : 

About  the  year  1827,  A.  Campbell,  W.  Scott,  and 
Sidney  Rigdon,  with  some  others  residing  in  Virginia 
and  Ohio,  came  off  from  the  Baptist  church,  and 
established  a  new  order  under  the  name  of  Reformed 
Baptists. 

1  Among  these  reformers,  Mr.  Rigdon,  it  appears,  held 
to  the  literal  interpretation  of  the  prophecies,  as  the 
saints  now  do,  and  taught  that  the  long  lost  tribes  of 
Israel  were  soon  to  be  restored,  and  that  marvellous 
revolutions  were  at  hand,  not  only  affecting  the  moral, 
but  also  the  political,  and  even  the  animal  world. 
|  These  doctrines  he  not  only  taught  and  enforced 
with  all  that  versatility  and  power  of  popular  eloquence, 
with  which  he  is  said  to  be  peculiarly  gifted,  but  he 


PRATT    AND    RIGD0N.  25 

also  brought  to  his  aid  the  eccentric  and  grotesque 
workings  of  a  nervous  and  enthusiastic  temperament, 
which  at  times  threw  him  into  spasms  and  swoonings, 
similar  to  those  nervous  agitations  which  have  so  often 
prevailed,  not  only  in  individual  instances,  but  raged  as 
epidemics  both  in  and  out  of  the  churches.  These 
nervous  fits  he  interpreted  into  the  agency  of  the 
Holy  Spirit,  as  multitudes  had  done  before  him,  and 
contended  that  the  miraculous  spiritual  gifts  of  the 
apostolic  age  were  now  about  to  be  restored  to  the 
church. 

Here  afre  meet  for  the  first  time  with  the  Mormon 
doctrine  of  prophecies  and  miracles,  in  a  region  where 
Smith  and  his  bible  were  never  heard  of,  and  long  be- 
fore either  of  these  doctrines  had  appeared,  distinctly, 
in  any  of  the  books,  or,  probably,  in  the  thoughts  of 
Smith. 

The  credulous  and  simple  of  course  believed  all  he 
taught,  especially  when  he  confirmed  his  doctrine  by 
nervous  spasms  and  swooning,  and  their  attendant 
rhapsodies  and  marvellous  visions.  Many  hundreds 
were  thus  deluded  and  gathered  into  a  church  under 
his  preaching,  in  Lake  county,  Ohio.  Other  preachers 
soon  united  their  efforts  with  his,  among  whom  was  the 
famous  Parley  P.  Pratt,  the  present  mouthpiece  of  the 
saints.  After  his  conversion  to  the  doctrines  of  Rigdon, 
while  on  a  journey,  as  he  says,  to  visit  his  native  place, 
Columbia  county,  N.  Y.,  in  August  of  1830,  he  fell  in  with 
the  Book  of  Mormon,  which  had  then  been  published 
about  six  months,  and  gathered  about  fifty  disciples  in 
N.  Y.  "  He  was  greatly  prejudiced  against  it  at  first, 
but  after  praying  to  God  he  became  convinced  of  its 
truth,"  as  he  says,  "  by  the  power  of  the  Holy  Ghost." 

3 


26  rigdon's  conversion  and  baptism. 

But  whether  he  had  a  jerk,  or  a  twitch,  or  a  swoon,  he 
has  not  informed  us.  On  his  return  to  Ohio,  he  pre- 
sented the  book  to  his  valiant  compeer  in  the  faith, 
Sidney  Rigdon.  With  much  persuasion  and  argument 
he  was  prevailed  upon  to  read  it,  and  after  a  great 
struggle  in  his  mind,  he  of  course  fully  believed  and 
embraced  it. 

Probably  he  was  convinced  in  like  manner,  by  a 
similar  spirit  and  power ;  for  it  is  indeed  difficult  to  see 
how  any  man,  especially  of  a  nervous  temperament, 
could  read  Smith's  book  through  without  being  thrown 
into  some  sort  of  hysterics.  The  marvel  is,  that  it 
should  ever  have  happened  otherwise. 

Cowdery,  in  the  mean  time,  had  converted  about 
seventeen  of  his  society.  Rigdon  immediately  assem- 
bled his  old  followers  ;  a  great  congregation  was 
gathered,  and  while  he  harangued  them  for  nearly  two 
hours,  both  himself  and  most  of  his  congregation  melted 
into  tears.  The  next  morning  himself  and  wife  were 
baptized,  when  again  there  was  another  outpouring  of 
hysterics  and  tears;  and  during  the  fall  of  1830,  and 
the  following  winter  and  spring,  many  of  his  old  disci- 
ples, and  some  others,  in  all  about  1000,  were  baptized 
into  the  Mormon  faith.  In  the  glowing  language  of 
Pratt,  "  the  Holy  Spirit  was  mightily  poured  out,  the 
word  of  God  grew  and  multiplied,  and  many  priests 
were  obedient  to  the  word."  In  about  three  weeks 
after  he  was  converted,  Rigdon  visited  Smith,  in  N. 
York,  and  since  that  time  has  continued  apparently  at 
his  feet,  drawing  his  inspiration  from  the  fountain  head. 
Here  he  not  only  received  a  confirmation  of  his  faith, 
but  also  a  command  from  the  Lord,*  through  Smith, 
*  B.  C.  117. 


REMOVAL   TO    ORTO.  27 

well  suited  both  to  his  vanity  and  his  aims.  It  is 
also  reported  that  Rigdon,  after  joining  the  church, 
and  spending  a  little  time  in  Kirtland,  was  afraid  he 
had  been  deceived,  and  visited  Smith  to  have  his  doubts 
removed.  He  says  that  on  arriving  in  N.  Y.,  he  went 
first  to  the  enemies,  and  then  to  the  friends  of  the 
church,  and  heard  both  stories,  and  the  result  was,  that 
he  was  so  fully  convinced  of  the  "  truth,"  that  he  after- 
ward told  A.  Campbell,  "that  if  Smith  should  be  proved 
a  liar,  or  say  himself  that  he  never  found  the  Book  of 
Mormon,  as  he  reported,  he  should  still  believe,  and  also 
believe  that  all  who  rejected  it  would  be  damned." 
Such  remarkable  piety  rendered  it  highly  expedient 
that  the  Lord  should  appoint  him,  forthwith,  by  an  ex- 
press revelation,  the  orator  and  oracle  of  the  faith* 
This,  however,  is  no  unusual  instance  of  faith  among 
the  Mormons.  I  have  heard  many  of  them  express 
the  same  idea.  Surely  such  faith  should  work  won- 
ders, and  who  can  doubt  that  it  does  ? 

On  the  return  of  Rigdon  in  January,  1831,  not  only 
Smith,  but  also  the  whole  church,  removed,  by  divine 
commandment,  from  N.  York  to  Kirtland,  Ohio.f 

During  the  fall  and  winter  of  '30  and  '31,  Kirtland 
was  continually  crowded  with  visiters,  who  came  from 
all  quarters  to  inquire  after  the  "  New  Religion." 
About  this  time,  as  we  are  informed  by  credible  his- 
torians and  eye-witnesses,  "  many  in  the  church  became 
very  visionary  and  had  divers  operations  of  the  Spirit." 
They  saw  wonderful  lights  in  the  air  and  on  the  ground, 
and  had  many  miraculous  visions  and  experiences. 
Their  conduct  grew  more  and  more  eccentric  and  ab- 
surd.    Sometimes  they  imitated  the  grotesque  antics  of 

*  See  B.  C.  117,  5,  6.  t  B.  C.  119.  7. 


28  KIRTLAND    MIRACLES. 

the  wild  Indian,  in  knocking  down,  scalping,  and  tear- 
ing out  the  bowels  of  his  victim,  thus  anticipating  the 
hour  of  their  fancied  mission  to  those  lost  sons  of 
Jacob. 

Again,  they  ran  into  the  fields,  mounted  upon  stumps, 
and,   while   absorbed  in  vision,  and   insensible  to  all 
around  them,  they  plunged  into  the  waters  of  baptism, 
or  harangued  the  imaginary  multitudes  by  whom  they 
thought  they  were   surrounded.     Some   professed  to 
receive  letters  direct  from  heaven,  written  on  stones 
or  parchment,  in   characters  which  they   alone   had 
power  to  translate,  and  which  vanished  as  soon  as  the 
work  was  performed.     Others  fell  into  a  trance,  and 
continued  apparently  lifeless  for  a  long  time,  and  woke 
only  to  relate  the  wonders  they  had  seen  touching  the 
future  glory  of  the  saints,  and  the  destruction  of  the  un- 
believing.    Sometimes  their  faces,  bodies,   and  limbs 
were  violently  distorted  and  convulsed,  until  they  fell 
prostrate  on  the  ground.     Indeed,  it  is  reported  by  an 
eye-witness,  that  at  first  the  laying  hands  on  the  heads 
of  their  converts  to  confer  the  gift  of  the  Holy  Spirit, 
generally  produced  an  instantaneous  prostration  of  both 
body  and  mind,  often  followed  by  a  wonderful  gift  of 
tongues,  as  was  supposed,  in  Indian  dialects  ;  which, 
indeed,  none  could  understand  except  by  direct  inspi- 
ration.    Some,  in  imitation  of  the   prophet,  received 
magic  stones,  through  which  they  professed  to  see  and 
describe  not  only  the  persons,  but  the  dress  and  employ- 
ments of  persons  hundreds  of  miles  distant. 

On  page  182,  B.  C,  there  is  an  allusion  to  one  of 
these  marvellous  stones  given  to  Hiram  Page,  and 
translated  by  him.  A  new  revelation  respecting  these 
wonders,  and  the  spirits  which  produced  them,  may  be 


GIFTS    OF    HEALING.  29 

found  on  page  134,  B.  C.  It  seems  that  Smith's  pater- 
nal affection  for  the  stone  mania  led  him  to  treat  that 
with  some  deference  while  he  condemned  all  else  as 
the  work  of  the  devil,  though  a  most  prolific  source 
not  only  of  wonder  and  faith  to  the  saints,  but  of  con- 
versions. 

All   these  eccentricities  were   undoubtedly  in  part 
hypocrisy,  and  in  part  the  natural  result  of  a  contagious 
sympathy,  emanating  from  Smith  and  Rigdon,  and  dif- 
fusing itself,  on  well-known  epidemic  principles,  to  be 
noticed  more  fully  hereafter.     The  more  substantial 
pajt  of  tne  church,  however,  soon  became  disgusted 
and  appealed  to  Smith.     After  due  prayer  and  delibe- 
ration he  very  wisely  had  a  new  revelation,  informing 
them,  in  substance,  that  it  was  all  the  work  of  the  devil, 
as  mentioned  above.     It  may  be  well  to  notice  that  the 
stone  fever  originated  in  Smith,  while  Rigdon  seems  to 
have  been  the  original  proprietor  of  the  trance-vision, 
and  spouting  fever.     After  this  new  turn  in  their  affairs, 
Smith  and  Rigdon  appear  to  have  taken  to  themselves 
the  entire  monopoly  of  wonders  of  all  sorts,  and   to 
have  commended  the  saints  to  the  more  quiet  and  ap- 
propriate duty  of  believing.     This  philosophical  division 
of  labor  has  doubtless  conduced  much  to  the  quiet  of 
general  society,  and  the  edification  and  docility  of  the 
saints.     In  the  winter  of  1831,  the  opinion  that  they 
should  never  taste  death,  was  propagated  among  them, 
and  all  diseases  were  to  yield,  not  to  the  profane  aid  of 
medicine,  but  to  the  faith,  prayers,  herbs,  and  poultices 
of  the  devout.* 

The  prophet  himself,  however,  in  the  case  of  his 
"  elect  lady,"  had  recourse  to  a  surgeon,  greatly  to  the 

*  B.  C.  123,  12. 
3* 


30  ORIGIN    OF    MORMON    DOCTRINES. 

grief  and  scandal  of  the  church.  Others  of  less  note 
were  piously  left  to  die  in  the  hands  of  their  elders  and 
root  doctors. 


REFLECTIONS. 


From  the  preceding  narrative,  which  is  taken  from 
their  own  published  writings,  so  far  as  the  leading  facts 
are  concerned,*  the  following  inferences  are  at  once 
apparent  and  inevitable. 

1.  Rigdon  and  Pratt  had  been  busy,  either  by  acci- 
dent or  intrigue,  in  preparing  for  the  triumph  of  M(3r- 
monism,  in  Ohio,  for  three  years  before  the  people  in 
that  region  ever  heard  of  Smith  or  his  book  ;  that  is, 
from  the  year  1827,  the  very  same  year  in  which 
Smith  pretends  he  commenced  the  translation  of  the 
plates,  up  to  the  year  1830,  when  Rigdon  and  Pratt 
were  professedly  converted. 

2.  Rigdon,  and  not  Smith,  was  the  originator  of  their 
doctrines  concerning  the  literal  fulfilment  of  the  pro- 
phecies, the  restoration  of  the  Jews,  the  literal  reign  of 
the  saints  in  Zion,  and  the  restoration  of  the  miracu- 
lous gifts  of  the  apostolic  age  to  the  modern  church ; 
and  that,  too,  according  to  their  own  showing.f  Yet 
these  doctrines  lie  at  the  foundation  of  the  Mormon 
church,  as  all  know.  Take  these  away,  and  there  is 
nothing  left  in  their  whole  system  of  sufficient  power 
to  engross  the  intellect  of  an  ape. 

3.  Before  the  union  of  these  two  forces'^  Mormonism 

*  See  Parley  P.  Pratt's  Truth  Vindicated,  p.  40  ;  Evening  and  Morn- 
ing Star,  Vol.  I.,  p.  167  and  90  ;  Corill's  History  of  the  Latter  Day 
Saints,  p.  16,  et  seq. 

t  See  Pratt,  as  above,  p.  40. 


CAUSES    OF    THEIR    SUCCESS.  31 

had  neither  form  nor  vigor,  spirit  nor  power  :  it  was  a 
mere  turbid  ripple,  eddying  around  the  Smiths  and 
Whitmers,  and  their  money-digging  comrades,  without 
depth  or  motion,  excepting  in  a  very  limited  circle.  It 
could  scarce  control  the  faith,  much  less  excite  the 
emotions  of  granny  Smith  herself.  It  had  neither  end 
nor  aim,  neither  object  nor  force,  beyond  the  already 
habitual  and  ordinary  aspirations  of  Joseph,  the  money- 
digger.  And,  indeed,  he  did  not  know  what  to  do  with 
it  himself,  as  we  shall  hereafter  see.  Before  the  acces- 
sion of  Rigdon,  in  1830,  not  one  of  the  peculiar  and 
properly  fundamental  doctrines  of  Mormonism  are  to 
be  found  in  the  Book  of  Mormon  ;  nor  were  they  ever 
taught,  so  far  as  appears,  by  Smith,  unless  in  loose 
generalities,  which  were  susceptible  of  interpretations 
to  suit  circumstances.* 

4.  But  after  the  conversion  of  Rigdon,  things  soon  begin 
to  wear  a  different  aspect.  Smith's  divinity,  in  his  reve- 
lations, appears  more  explicit,  decisive,  and  imperative. 
He  drops  his  vague  generalities,  and  occasionally  utters 
a  word  that  is  clear,  definite,  and  to  the  point.  He 
proceeds  to  organize  his  church,  and  propound  its 
doctrines,  government,  and  duties,  as  though  he,  at 
least,  had  some  indistinct  ideas  of  what  he  meant  him- 
self; until  finally,  after  much  ado,  and  great  anguish  of 
logomachy,  he  finally  succeeds  in  making  the  Mormons 
understand,  that  they  are  to  receive  at  the  hands  of 
Smith,  as  immediate  revelations,  the  same  doctrines 
that,  in  substance,  Rigdon  had  taught  them,  while  he 
was,  as  he  admits,  an  outcast  from  God  and  the  true 
church,  during  the  three  or  four  preceding  years,  and 

*  See  revelation  on  the  rise  of  the  church,  Fayette,  N.  Y.,  June,  1830. 
B.  of  C,  §2.  p.  77. 


32  CAUSES    OF    THEIR    SUCCESS. 

that  they  were  to  organize  the  church  with  two  distinct 
priesthoods,  the  Melchisedec  and  the  Aaronic,  both  em- 
bracing a  sufficient  number  of  presidents,  bishops, 
prophets,  priests,  elders,  &c,  to  make  every  Mormon  a 
man  of  authority,  taking  due  care  ever  to  keep  Smith 
and  Rigdon  on  the  top  of  the  heap, "  according  to  the 
ancient  gospel."  Let  not  the  profane  think  strange  of 
this  ;  the  ways  of  Providence  are  often  mysterious,  and 
if  there  is  ever  any  thing  inexplicable  here,  Joseph 
Smith,  jun.  is  fully  empowered  to  receive  special  reve- 
lations, explanatory,  whenever  or  wherever  either  the 
edification  or  the  uneasiness  of  the  saints  may  require 
them. 

5.  Rigdon  had  been  long  accustomed  to  play  upon 
the  religious  credulity  of  the  people,  and  to  arouse  and 
concentrate  the  religious  emotions  of  his  fellow-men. 
He  could  preach,  exhort,  philosophize,  rave,  read,  sing, 
pray,  and  cry  whenever  and  wherever  occasion  re- 
quired. And  after  the  first  "general  heat,"  at  each  and  all 
of  these  at  once,  which  occurred  at  the  time  of  his  con- 
version, confession,  and  baptism,  Mormonism  caught, 
as  we  have  seen,  not  only  his  followers  and  doctrines, 
but  also  his  spirit,  his  eloquence,  and  even  his  faintings, 
his  swoonings,  visions,  and  ecstasies,  and  thus  became 
"  a  thing  of  life,"  and  rose  at  once  from  wallowing  in 
the  gutter  with  Smith,  to  soar  in  the  sky  with  its  new 
compeer.  Some  have  thought  that  Rigdon  was  from 
the  first  the  secret  originator  of  the  whole  scheme. 
But  of  this,  to  say  the  least,  there  is  no  proof.  On  the 
contrary,  there  is  a  strong  probability  that  he  has  been 
to  Mormonism  what  Peter  the  Hermit  was  to  the  cru- 
sades ;  not  the  originator  of  the  fanatical  materials,  but 
the  explosive  power  from  which  they  derived  all  their 


33 

terror,  their  brilliancy,  and  their  force.  Still,  what 
precise  part  in  the  comedy  of  Mormonism  posterity 
may  ultimately  assign  him  is  doubtful.  Whether  he  is 
to  be  considered  as  the  speaker  of  the  prologue,  or  the 
hero,  or  the  fool  of  the  play,  is  yet  doubtful.  It  is 
nevertheless  true,  and  susceptible  of  moral  demonstra- 
tion, that  if  Sidney  Rigdon  had  not  lived,  Joe  Smith 
and  his  book  must  have  perished  in  the  same  timely 
grave ;  or  rather,  in  all  probability,  Joe  would  have 
lived  to  bear  the  pall  of  his  own  book,  unaided,  un- 
honored,  and  alone. 

It  has  often  been  asked,  whether  it  is  credible  that  a 
man  of  Rigdon's  information  should  really  believe  the 
Book  of  Mormon  a  divine  revelation  ?  Those  who 
are  credulous  enough  to  believe  him  sincere  may  do  so 
if  they  please  ;  but  it  is  credible  that  a  man  of  his  per- 
verted and  ambitious  temper,  after  having  run  through 
all  creeds,  dabbled  in  politics,  turned  skeptic,  and  then 
again  enthusiast, — it  is  quite  credible  that  such  a  man 
should  be  converted,  with  tears  in  his  eyes,  to  Joe 
Smith's  creed,  or  any  other,  from  which  he  could  hope 
to  raise  the  wind,  and  stand  at  the  helm  again,  for  a 
season.  His  well-known  character  and  history  render 
his  sudden  and  whining  conversion  to  Smith  neither  a 
mystery  nor  a  miracle.  Should  Smith's  divinity  dare 
to  assign  him  some  more  humble  station  among  "  the 
Latter  Day  Saints,"  probably  the  world  would  see  him 
converted  again,  either  to  his  former  skepticism  or  to 
some  newfangled  fanaticism.  At  present,  Smith  has 
evident  need  of  him  at  Nauvoo,  at  least  until  some  of 
their  new  charters  have  done  their  best. 


34  ENDOWMENT    AND   JOURNEY    TO    MISSOURI. 

a 

CHAPTER  II. 

HISTORY    OF    MORMONISM,    CONTINUED. 

Endowment  and  journey  to  Missouri — Multitude  of  elders  and  prose- 
lytes— Character  of  proselytes — Gift  of  tongues — Big  firm,  banks, 
temple,  study  of  Hebrew,  &c. — Mormon  pentecost — Removal  to  Mt. 
Zion,  Mo. — Mob  at  Jackson  co. — Consequent  revelation  to  Smith — 
Army  of  Zion — Retreats — Disturbance  in  Caldwell — Salt  Sermon — The 
Danites — Poisoning  the  wells — The  Destructionists — Rigdon's  famous 
Fourth  of  July  oration — The  prophet's  harangue  at  the  head  of  his 
troops — Expulsion  of  the  Mormons  from  Missouri — Tragedy  at  How's 
Mills — Mob  law — Arrival  of  the  Mormons  at  Quincy — Number  and 
progress  of  the  Mormons — Charters — Result  of  persecution — Authori- 
ties, proclamations,  recent  revelations,  and  present  designs  of  Smith — 
New  temple — Baptism  for  the  dead — Polls — Dangers  of  civil  war. 

In  June,  1831,  the  elders  of  the  Mormon  church,  now 
about  fifty  in  number,  were  commanded  by  revelation, 
through  Smith,  to  assemble  at  Kirtland  to  receive  the 
"  endowment."  The  meeting  was  conducted  by  Smith. 
They  had  assembled  expecting  mighty  exhibitions  of 
something,  they  knew  not  what,  and  of  course  mighty 
results  followed.  The  spirit  of  fanaticism  appeared 
anew  among  the  elders,  in  spite  of  counter  revelations. 
"  It  threw  one  from  his  seat  upon  the  floor  ;"  it  para- 
lyzed another  so  that  he  could  neither  move  nor  speak. 
Other  marvels  occurred,  until  by  a  "  mighty  exertion  in 
the  name  of  the  Lord,"  it  was  shown  to  be  from  an 
evil  source  ;  and  the  evil  spirits  were  then  duly  ex- 
orcised, and  all  was  quiet.  At  last  it  was  discovered 
that  the  great  endowment  consisted  simply  in  ordaining 
a  few  more  priests.  The  elders  were  somewhat  disap- 
pointed and  chagrined  at   the   result;   and  finding  it 


MULTITUDE    OF    ELDERS.  35 

difficult  to  allay  their  excited  feelings,  and  to  dispel 
their  doubts,  Smith,  as  usual,  when  there  were  indica- 
tions of  trouble  in  the  camp,  despatched  the  whole 
posse,  by  divine  command,  from  head-quarters  to  Mis- 
souri, commanding  them  to  go  two  and  two,  by  differ- 
ent routes,  and  preach  as  they  went. 

Smith,  Rigdon,  and  six  or  eight  others,  followed  them 
to  Jackson  county,  Missouri,  where  Smith  pointed  out  the 
spot  for  the  temple,  received  divers  revelations,  held 
conferences,  &c,  and  then  returned.  They  here  found 
that  the  great  church,  which  Smith  saw  in  vision  in  But- 
ler county,  before  they  started,  consisted  of  four  females. 
This  jaunt  to  Missouri  seems  to  have  removed  the 
elders'  doubts,  without  abating  their  enthusiasm.  The 
church  continued  meantime  to  gather  at  Kirtland,  and 
nearly  all  their  male  converts,  however  ignorant  or 
worthless,  were  transformed  into  elders. 

Their  emissaries  were  roaming,  two  and  two, through 
all  parts  of  the  land.  The  number  of  these  travelling 
priests  and  elders  at  this  time  is  not  known  ;  but  in  the 
"Messenger  and  Advocate,"  p.  335,  the  names  of  those 
whose  licenses  were  recorded  during  the  preceding 
quarter  only,  amount  to  250  ;  from  this  it  may  be  easily 
inferred  that  Mormonism,  in  its  early  history,  was 
more  prolific  in  priests  and  elders  than  ever  Egypt  was 
in  frogs,  and  if  they  could  not  out- reason,  any  one  of 
them  could  out-talk  any  thing  or  anybody  they  might 
chance  to  meet.  They  soon  had  the  scriptures,  or  at 
least  so  much  of  them  as  they  were  directed  to  use,  at 
their  tongue's  end,  and  were  ever  ready  to  deluge  those 
whom  they  met  with  a  shower  of  proof  texts.  Of 
course  they  gained  many  proselytes ;  multitudes  flocked 
to  hear  them,  and  both  the  wise  and  the  unwise  were 


36  CHARACTER    OF    PROSELYTES. 

alike  confounded,  though  for  far  different  reasons, 
Those  who  had  been  excommunicated,  or  censured,  or 
despised,  or  endangered,  in  other  churches,  at  once  saw 
new  light.  The  gospel  of  the  Mormons  appeared  pe- 
culiarly adapted  to  their  necessities  as  sinners ;  and  a 
tramp  to  Kirtland,  or  on  a  mission,  relieved  them,  at 
once,  both  of  their  sins  and  their  infamy. 

Others  were  appropriately  convinced  that  the  Lord 
had  chosen  the  weak  things  of  the  world  to  confound 
the  mighty,  and  consequently  took  up  their  line  of 
march  for  the  prophet.  Not  a  few  admired  the  genuine 
and  unaffected  humility  of  a  church  which  was  ready 
to  receive  those  as  prophets  and  apostles  who  could  not 
even  spell  the  name  of  the  divine  office  to  which  they 
aspired  ;  especially,  when  they  contrasted  it  with  the 
arrogance  and  intolerance  of  those  sects  they  were 
about  to  leave,  many  of  whom,  in  the  pride  and  folly 
of  their  hearts,  would  not  submit  to  be  taught  things 
divine  by  those  who  could  not  read  intelligibly  the 
decalogue  of  Moses  or  the  sermon  on  the  mount. 

These  drew  along  in  their  train  a  motley  host  of  all 
shapes  and  sizes,  some  from  one  motive,  and  some  from 
another ;  men  gaping  for  marvels,  and  women  ready 
to  swoon ;  some  praying  for  an  apostle's  martyrdom, 
others  for  Smith's  millennium  ;  some  thinking  of  their 
sins,  and  others  of  Ohio  bank-stock  and  Missouri  lands; 
some  thinking  the  world  was  soon  to  be  overturned, 
others  hoping  to  overturn  it ;  but  all  expecting  prodigies 
of  some  sort,  and  to  witness,  if  not  to  obtain,  the  gift 
of  tongues,  of  prophecy,  of  healing,  &c. ;  in  short,  a 
multitude  which  everywhere  abounds,  who  have  been 
kindly  gifted  with  all  sorts  of  sense,  except  common 
sense,  and  who  possess  a  genuine  power  of  faith,  which 


APPARENT    HUMILITY.  37 

enables  them  to  believe  any  thing  whatsoever,  for  no 
other  reason,  it  would  seem,  save  that  it  is  absurd,  and 
who  have  obtained  those  marvellous  gifts  of  a  spirit 
which  infallibly  teaches  them  all  knowledge,  except  the 
very  simple  and  obvious  fact,  that  they  never  knew  any 
thing  ;  these  all  were  sucked,  with  wonderful  facility, 
into  this  new  Maelstroom  of  faith,  and  drawn  with 
becoming  velocity  toward  the  conjuring  spirits  at  the 
centre  in  Kirtland,  Ohio.  Nor  is  it  to  be  denied,  that 
amid  this  general  tumult  of  social  and  fanatical  im- 
pulses, it  sometimes  happened,  that  men  worthy  of  a 
better  fate  were  swept  into  the  vortex,  with  their  com- 
rades, and  whirled  along,  until  they  either  became  giddy 
by  the  general  confusion  of  objects  around  them,  or 
slackened  their  speed,  in  order  to  retreat  and  warn 
their  friends,  or  to  contemplate  with  deliberate  knavery 
the  probable  advantages  of  their  new  position,  and  to 
rush  on  again  with  redoubled  velocity  to  attain  the  ob- 
jects of  their  cupidity. 

At  first,  the  uncertainty  of  their  position  made  even 
their  leaders  apparently  humble,  and  the  native  credu- 
lity of  their  followers  rendered  them  indeed  sufficiently 
abject.  Their  souls  having  been  already  crushed  and 
overpowered  with  absurdities  in  the  outset  of  their  ca- 
reer, the  insults,  taunts,  and  sneers  which  are  ever,  too 
profusely,  perhaps,  heaped  upon  those  who  have  prosti- 
tuted their  humanity  by  sacrificing  both  their  reason 
and  common  sense  to  their  faith,  soon  engendered  a 
sort  of  stoical  apathy,  and  by  habitual  trial  ripened 
their  natural  patience  into  insensibility  to  every  thing 
except  the  absurdities  of  their  creed.  These  and  simi- 
lar causes  produced  at  once  a  servility  of  spirit  and  ve- 
hemence of  devotion,  which  not  unfrequently  passed 

4 


38  GIFT    OF    TONGUES. 

for  genuine  intelligent  Christian  humility,  meekness,  and 
fervor.  Besides,  there  were,  ultimately,  many  who 
were  truly  pious  before  their  conversion  to  the  faith, 
in  whose  souls  the  trials  of  their  new  and  unwonted 
discipline,  for  a  time,  more  than  counterbalanced  the 
pernicious  influence  of  their  new  dogmas.  Nor  should 
it  be  forgotten  that  the  most  flagrant  fanaticisms  have 
usually  been  famed  for  the  sanctimonious  deportment 
of  their  early  adherents.  These  and  other  causes,  par- 
ticularly the  frequent  and  unjust  persecutions  which 
they  have  experienced,  have  tended  to  give  the  Mor- 
mons, in  many  instances,  a  reputation  for  piety,  which, 
as  a  class,  they  by  no  means  deserve,  and  thus  have 
contributed  much  to  their  increase.  Of  the  wily  policy 
of  their  leaders  in  gaining  proselytes,  more  will  be  said 
in  the  sequel. 

But,  however  we  may  philosophize  upon  their  in- 
crease or  their  character,  one  thing  still  remains  true  : 
their  progress  has  been  at  once  rapid,  ridiculous,  and 
deplorable.  In  less  than  three  years  after  the  accession 
of  Rigdon  and  his  followers,  new  churches  had  been 
built  up  in  Missouri,  Illinois,  Ohio,  Virginia,  New  York, 
Vermont,  New  Hampshire,  Massachusetts,  and  indeed 
in  nearly  all  of  the  northern  and  middle,  and  some  of 
the  southern  states.  Their  elders,  in  their  reports,  speak 
of  baptizing  thirty,  fifty,  and  sometimes  even  one  hun- 
dred and  thirty  persons  at  a  single  station. 

In  the  beginning  of  1833,  the  discarded  gift  of 
tongues  again  made  its  appearance  at  head-quarters. 
Their  frequent  failures  in  healing,  discerning  spirits, 
casting  out  devils,  &c,  rendered  some  new  expedient 
needful,  in  order  to  sustain  the  already  drooping  spirits 
of  the  faithful.     This  new  gift  is  said  to  have  origin- 


BIG    FIRM.  39 

ated  at  this  time  with  a  fanatic  by  the  name  of  GhTord, 
a  GifFordite  from  New  York.  Smith  at  first  pronounced 
it  the  work  of  the  devil  as  before,  but  finally  deemed 
it  expedient  to  adopt  it ;  and  soon  all  tongues  were  in 
motion,  with  all  imaginable  faith  and  zeal.  The  gift  is 
indeed  extraordinary;  but  the  rule  as  given  by  Mr. 
Higbee,  a  Mormon  elder,  makes  the  acquisition  easy  in 
the  extreme.  It  consists  simply  of  two  items:  1.  Eve- 
ry possible  articulate  sound  is,  in  fact,  some  language 
or  word,  known  to  God,  if  to  no  one  else.  2.  If  you 
would  speak  in  tongues,  trust  in  God,  open  your  mouth 
and  make  sounds  of  some  sort,  and  he  will  take  care 
that  it  shall  be  a  language.  The  translator  proceeds 
in  the  same  way ;  he  utters  whatever  comes  first  into 
his  mind,  and  the  power  of  faith  enables  him  and  his 
hearers  to  believe  it  a  correct  translation  of  whatever 
unintelligible  sounds  have  preceded  it.  Of  course,  they 
never  chance  to  hit  upon  any  tongue  before  known  or 
heard  of— though  it  is  said  that  their  sounds  resemble 
the  monosyllabic  dialects  of  the  Indians,  as  might  be 
readily  supposed. 

In  April,  1832,  a  firm  was  established  by  revelation, 
consisting  of  the  principal  members  of  the  church,  os- 
tensibly for  its  peculiar  benefit.*  By  previous  revela- 
tion, all  the  property  of  the  members  had  been  claimed 
to  be  consecrated  to  the  Lord.f  In  the  Book  of  Cov- 
enants, p.  122,  this  revelation  is,  however,  revised,  so 
as  to  read  of  thy  property,  instead  of  all  thy  property. 
This  was  found  expedient.  The  proper  authorities  in 
this  big  firm,  however,  had  the  entire  control  of  all  the 
consecrated  property,  which  had   been  or  could   be 

*B.  ofC.  p.  219,  §20. 
t  See  B.  of  Commandments  93,  Eve.  and  Morn.  Star,  1st  ed.  No.  3,  vol.  i. 


40  TEMPLE,  HEBREW,  ETC. 

squeezed  out  of  the  saints,  according  to  the  letter  of 
the  divine  command.  They  proceeded  to  purchase 
lands,  to  lay  off  town  lots,  build  temples,  &c.  until  they 
were  finally  permitted  by  divine  revelation  to  borrow 
money,  to  save  themselves  from  bankruptcy,*  which 
recourse  failing,  their  leaders  resorted  first  to  their  fa- 
mous mercantile,  and  ultimately  to  their  banking  ope- 
rations. In  1833,  they  commenced  building  the  "  tem- 
ple of  the  Lord"  in  Kirtland,  which  ultimately  was 
completed  at  a  cost  of  about  forty  thousand  dollars, 
and  secured  by  deed  to  the  prophet  and  his  successors. 
The  interior  of  this  singular  edifice  was  fitted  up  with 
pulpits  of  different  altitudes,  adapted  to  the  different 
ranks  of  the  priests,  bishops,  counsellors,  elders,  &c, 
divided  into  departments,  and  prepared  with  curtains, 
hangings,  and  other  ornaments,  suited  at  once  to  the 
convenience  of  their  peculiar  worship,  and  the  appro- 
priate display  of  their  leaders  and  functionaries,  f 

In  the  fall  of  1835,  three  or  four  hundred  of  their 
travelling  elders  gathered  in  Kirtland,  and  remained  to 
pursue  their  studies  through  the  winter,  under  the 
prophet  and  his  comrades,  who  had  secured  the  aid  of 
the  celebrated  Hebrew  teacher,  Mr.  Seixas,  to  whom 
Mr.  Smith  seemed  inclined  to  look,  in  preference  to  his 
stones,  or  the  inspired  tongues  of  the  Mormons,  for  a 
knowledge  of  the  Hebrew.  Whether  the  stones  had 
become  rusty,  or  whether  the  gift  of  the  Spirit  had 
withdrawn,  and  left  them  to  the  vulgar  necessity  of 
grammars  and  lexicons,  or,  whether  they  wished  an 
opportunity  to  compare  the  inspired  with  the  ordinary 
mode  of  acquiring  an  unknown  tongue,  is  not  yet  fully 
revealed. 

*  B.  of  C.  213.  t  See  B.  of  C.  213  and  233. 


MORMON   PENTECOST.  41 

In  1836,  an  endowment  meeting,  or  solemn  assembly, 
was  held  in  the  temple,  according  to  a  previous  com- 
mandment of  Smith's  divinity.*  The  elders  expected 
to  receive  a  pentecostal  endowment  on  this  occasion 
from  the  Lord,  similar  to  that  conferred  of  old  on  the 
disciples  at  Jerusalem.  The  day  was  spent  in  fasting, 
prayer,  and  other  ceremonial  preparations — such  as 
washing  their  bodies  in  pure  water,  perfuming  them 
with  cologne — after  which  they  administered  the  ordi- 
nance of  washing  each  other's  feet,  and  anointing  with 
holy  oil,  ,with  mutual  blessings  and  benedictions.  In 
the  evening  they  assembled  for  the  "  endowment."  They 
first  broke  their  fast,  by  eating  a  little  light  bread  and 
drinking  freely  of  pure  wine,  which  they  were  assured 
would  not  hurt  them,  since  it  had  been  consecrated  to 
the  Lord.  Nor  did  their  faith  stumble  at  this,  until 
they  learned  from  experience,  that  though  the  spirit 
was  willing,  the  flesh  was  still  weak.  A  marvellous 
spirit  of  prophecy  soon  ensued,  as  might  have  been  ex- 
pected, which  vented  itself  mainly  in  blessing  their 
friends  and  cursing  their  enemies,  in  which  latter  class, 
the  clergy  of  the  day  and  the  Missouri  mob  received 
their  full  share.  An  eye-witness  informed  the  author 
that  he  never  imagined  that  language  more  awful  could 
be  used  in  the  world  of  despair.  Nor  did  the  conse- 
crated wine  exhale  all  its  inspiration  on  that  memora- 
ble night.  For  several  days,  and  even  for  weeks,  they 
went  from  house  to  house,  feasting  and  prophesying, 
blessing  and  cursing,  as  the  occasion  might  require,  un- 
til the  "  triumphs  of  faith"  were  fully  achieved,  and  the 
"  Spirit  of  the  Lord  was  poured  out  upon  all  flesh,"  as 

*  See  B.  of  C.  p.  109  ;  verse  197  of  revelation  called  Olive  Leaf. 

4* 


42  MERCHANDISE BANKS. 

they  thought,  though  others  thought  it  the  spirit  of  de- 
lusion, darkness,  and  error.* 

In  1835,  the  leaders  found  themselves  some  fifteen  or 
twenty  thousand  dollars  in  debt  for  their  temple,  besides 
other  expenses,  and  concluded  to  raise  the  wind  again, 
by  resorting  to  mercantile  speculations.  Accordingly, 
they  ran  the  society  into  debt  some  one  hundred  thou- 
sand dollars,  bought  goods  at  the  East,  built  steam-mills, 
bought  farms,  erected  fine  houses,  &c,  until  the  day  of 
account  drew  near,  when,  of  course,  they  found  them- 
selves bankrupt,  and  left  their  Mormon  endorsers  to 
foot  the  bill.  In  the  Elders'  Journal  of  1838,  the 
prophet  complains  that  one  single  "  saint,"  by  the  name 
of  Parish,  swindled  twenty-five  thousand  dollars  out  of 
the  bank.  We  do  not  know  how  true  this  may  be,  but 
we  would  like  to  know  what  some  of  the  rest  did. 
They  also  got  up  a  bank,  the  stock  of  which  consisted 
principally  in  personal  or  individual  property,  valued  at 
enormous  rates,  with  little  or  no  specie.  Bills  were 
issued  with  the  utmost  despatch,  and  by  all  possible 
means,  which  were  soon  returned  to  their  empty  vaults, 
much  to  the  edification  of  the  saints,  who  no  doubt 
would  have  escaped  all  embarrassment,  had  they  not, 
in  their  weakness  and  depravity,  begun  to  grow  tired 
of  the  "  spoiling  of  their  goods,"  instead  of  taking  it 
joyfully  as  they  should  have  done,  according  to  the 
pretended  "  gospel"  they  profess.  As  it  was,  however, 
secessions  began  to  multiply,  and  mutual  recriminations 
arose.  They  accused  their  leaders — the  prophet,  and 
his  brothers  Smith  and  Rigdon — of  incapacity,  selfish- 
ness, tyranny,  and  cupidity.  By  the  leaders  these  ac- 
cusations were  retorted  upon  the  dissenters,  with 
*  See  Corrill's  Hist.  p.  23. 


REMOVAL  TO  xMOUNT  ZION,  MISSOURI.  43 

threats,  and  charges  of  infidelity,  wickedness,  stealing, 
lying,  counterfeiting,  &c,  but  above  all,  want  of  faith. 
This  mutual  hostility  of  the  "  saints"  and  the  prophet 
and  his  comrades  increased,  much  to  the  scandal  of 
the  church  and  joy  of  the  world,  until,  finally,  Smith 
and  Rigdon  were  obliged  to  leave  Ohio,  with  a  sheriff 
at  their  heels  ;  and  soon  after,  with  their  families,  they 
emigrated  to  the  Far  West,  in  Missouri,  in  the  winter 
of  1838.  Some  of  the  elders  also  became  tired  of  the 
strife  and  left  the  place. 

We  must  now  leave  the  stake  at  Kirtland,  Ohio — 
temples,  endowments,  farms,  merchandise,  bank  stock, 
and  all — and  follow  the  Mormons  to  "  Mount  Zion,  the 
city  of  the  living  God,  the  joy  of  the  whole  earth,  the 
everlasting  (?)  possession  of  the  saints,"  situated  in  the 
land  of  Missouri,  the  Mormons'  land  of  peace,  blessed- 
ness, and  eternal  felicity,  "  where  there  shall  be  noth- 
ing to  hurt  or  annoy,  in  all  my  holy  mountain,  saith  the 
Lord."* 

The  reader  will  see,  by  turning  to  a  revelation  given 
to  Smith,  in  July,  1831,  appointing  Independence  as 
the  Mount  Zion,  the  place  of  the  gathering,  and  the 
site  of  the  temple  of  the  Lord,  that  Smith's  divinity 
had  not  at  this  time  formed  a  very  intimate  acquaint- 
ance with  Governor  Boggs  and  his  valorous  compeers 
in  Missouri.  He  had  been  so  busy  in  banking,  trading, 
farming,  building  temples,  houses,  steam-mills,  &c,  in 
Ohio,  that  he  had  not  had  time  to  study  minutely  the 
naked  prairies  of  the  frontier,  nor  the  peculiar  charac- 
ter of  Missouri  backwoodsmen.  However,  the  best 
miss  it  sometimes ;  and  besides,  there  is  no  knowing 
how  much  the  commissions,  and  charters,  and  muskets, 
*  See  Mormon  books.  r  Book  of  Covenants,  p.  154. 


44  MOB   AT   JACKSON   COUNTY,  MISSOURI. 

and  cannon,  which  the  pliant  servants  of  the  good  peo- 
ple of  Illinois  have  conferred  upon  the  Mormons  at 
Nauvoo,  together  with  their  own  daily  practice  of  mil- 
itary evolutions,  may  tend  to  retrieve  this  fatal  error. 
From  July,  1831,  it  appears  that  Mount  Zion,  Missouri, 
was  to  be  the  place  of  general  rendezvous  of  the  saints, 
forcvermore,  and  thither  the  tribes  went  up  by  divine 
command.  We  have  already  seen  that  the  prophet, 
on  his  visit  to  Missouri  in  1831,  appointed  the  location 
of  Zion  at  Independence,  Jackson  county,  Missouri, 
and  designated  the  spot,  and  laid  the  corner-stone  of 
the  Lord's  temple.  Shortly  after  this,  the  church  be- 
gan to  assemble,  by  revelations  through  Smith,  in  mul- 
titudes :  the  ways  were  crowded,  and  the  land  flooded, 
with  beggars  rallying  round  this  "  house  of  the  Lord.'* 
The  old  citizens  of  Jackson  county  became,  at  first,  un- 
easy, and  some  of  them  even  offered  to  sell  out,  but  the 
saints  were  too  poor  to  buy :  the  emigrants  still  poured 
in,  until  the  citizens  became  alarmed  for  the  security  of 
their  property  and  civil  rights  ;  and  finally,  on  the  23d 
of  July,  1833,  they  rose  in  their  fury,  demolished  their 
printing  office,  tarred  and  feathered  their  bishop,  Par- 
tridge, and  one  or  two  others,  and,  in  a  band  of  two  or 
three  hundred  citizens,  compelled  the  Mormons  to  agree 
to  leave  the  county  before  spring.  The  Mormons,  up 
to  this  time,  had  been  guilty  of  no  legal  misdemeanor, 
as  the  resolves  and  printed  reports  of  the  mobocrats 
plainly  show.  They  therefore  justly  considered  this 
agreement  as  fraudulent  and  illegal,  and  petitioned  the 
governor  for  protection  and  redress.  He  commended 
them  to  the  civil  law,  to  which  they  resorted  in  vain ; 
for  the  citizens  again  collected  by  night,  for  pulling 
down  houses,  whipping,  &c,  until  finally,  on  the  4th  of 


CONSEQUENT  REVELATION.  45 

November,  1833,  a  conflict  took  place,  in  which  three 
or  four  were  killed,  and  in  the  course  of  three  or  four 
weeks,  all  the  Mormons  were  compelled  to  leave  Jack- 
son county,  and  retreat  to  Ray  county,  where  they 
were  most  hospitably  received  by  the  ^habitants,  who 
gave  them  employment,  paid  them  good  wages,  and 
conducted  toward  them  like  gentlemen  and  freemen. 
The  number  driven  out  of  Jackson  county  was  about 
twelve  hundred.  In  the  winter  of  1833-4,  Governor 
Dunklin  endeavored  to  bring  the  citizens  of  Jackson 
county  to  justice,  and  redress  the  injuries  of  the  Mor- 
mons. But  after  assembling  the  parties  under  the  guard 
of  the  "  Blues,"  the  attorney-general  advised  the  Mor- 
mons to  abandon  their  suit,  since  justice  in  the  case 
was  impossible,  considering  the  excitement  and  spirit 
of  the  people.  They  took  his  advice,  and  returned 
with  the  guard. 

The  knowledge  of  this  outrage  soon  reached  the  ears 
of  the  prophet  in  Ohio.  He  saw  at  once  the  danger 
and  advantage  of  their  new  position.  Indeed,  the  world 
had  become  so  incredulous  already,  and  his  followers  so 
divided  among  themselves,  that  some  such  persecution 
had  become  almost  necessary  and  indispensable,  to 
arouse  the  sympathy  and  credulity  of  the  one,  and  con- 
centrate and  harmonize  the  already  distracted  energies 
of  the  other.  A  revelation,  of  unusual  length,  clearness, 
and  point,  was  soon  forthcoming  from  the  press  in  Kirt- 
land,  which  was  scattered  abroad  in  the  form  of  a 
handbill,  and  even  sold  for  one  dollar  per  copy.  The 
main  points  adverted  to  in  this  command  from  Smith's 
divinity  are  as  follows.* 

1.  The  Mormons  had  been  chastened  because  of 

*  See  B.  of  C.  235. 


46  ARMY    OF    ZION    MARCHES. 

"jarrings,  contentions,  envyings,  strifes,  lustful  and 
covetous  desires  among  them,"  by  which  they  had  pol- 
luted "  their  inheritances."  2.  Assurances  of  the  favor 
of  God,  on  repentance  and  a  return  to  duty,  and  of  his 
vengeance  on  their  enemies.  3.  An  exhortation  to  all 
their  "warriors  and  young  men,"  and  middle-aged  men, 
to  assemble  and  march  to  the  rescue  of  their  brethren, 
artfully  concealed  under  the  similitude  of  a  parable  of 
a  vineyard.  4.  An  explicit  exhortation  to  the  Mormons, 
to  seek  redress  from  the  civil  authorities  of  the  state 
and  of  the  United  States.  5.  A  gentle  reproof,  for 
giving  up  their  stores,  storehouses,  &c.  6.  An  exhor- 
tation to  hold  on  to  their  property  in  Jackson  county,  to 
the  end,  at  all  hazards,  since  there,  and  there  alone,  the 
Lord  had  determined  to  build  the  temple  of  Zion. 

This  proclamation  had  its  desired  effect ;  it  restored 
harmony,  and  aroused  action  and  sympathy.  The 
"strength  of  the  Lord's  house"  began  to  rally  around 
the  prophet,  from  all  quarters  of  the  Union,  to  prepare 
for  the  crusade  to  the  Holy  Land.  Rusty  swords,  old 
cartridge-boxes,  firelocks,  pistols,  rifles,  pitchforks  and 
butcher-knives,  dish-cloths  and  sand-boxes,  were  all  in 
motion  ;  either  groaning  under  the  operation  of  needful 
repairs,  or  belching  forth  their  valor  at  harmless  targets, 
or  flourishing  in  anticipated  triumph  around  the  heads 
of  their  Mormon  friends.  The  needles  and  thimbles  of 
women  and  children  were  alike  diligent  in  the  great 
work  of  preparation,  and  even  the  crutches  of  the  in- 
valid were  bereft  of  their  wonted  repose. 

At  last,  on  the  4th  of  May,  1834,  voting  in  solemn 
assembly,  to  be  called  no  longer  "  Mormons,"  but  the 
"  Church  of  Latter  Day  Saints,"  in  order  that  they  might 
the  more  readily  pass  incog,  on  their  way,  without  the 


RETREAT  OF  THE  GRAND  ARMY.         47 

sin  of  a  military  lie  ;  and,  having  listened  to  the  martial 
harangues  of  their  leaders,  the  "grand  army,"  or  "army 
of  Zion,"  took  up  their  line  of  march  in  different  sguad- 
rons  for  the  promised  land.  They  numbered  about  two 
hundred  and  fifty.  "  The  prophet,  accoutred  with  the 
best  sword  in  the  army,  an  elegant  brace  of  pistols,  a 
rifle,  four  horses,  and  a  stout  bull-dog  for  his  "  aid,"  took 
the  command  in  person. 

After  various  adventures,  (detailed  by  an  eye-witness 
from  the  ranks,)  with  black-snakes,  raw  pork,  and  par- 
ticularly /with  Smith's  "  aid-de-camp,"  the  "  army  of 
Zion"  arrived  in  Missouri  in  June,  1834.  When  once 
across  the  river,  and  near  the  scene  of  action,  the 
prophet,  the  general  of  the  host,  deemed  it  expedient 
to  go  incog.,  and  trust  the  command  in  the  hands  of  the 
lieutenants  and  his  valiant  "  aid."  They  were  soon  met 
by  a  committee  of  the  mobocrats  of  Missouri,  who  were 
desirous  of  inquiring  into  the  import  of  this  martial 
array. 

This  meeting  of  the  Mormons  and  mobocrats,  re- 
minds one  of  that  more  famous  meeting  of  Milton's 
Satan  and  Death,  at  the  gates  of  hell,  except  that  here 
neither  party  had  courage  enough  to  even  make  a  show 
of  fight,  though  both,  by  their  principles,  were  bound 
to  do  so.  Perhaps,  however,  some  snaky  sorcerers 
began  to  whisper  in  their  ears  that  they  were  both  of 
kindred  blood,  of  the  same  loving  sire.  Be  this  as  it 
may,  the  mobocrats,  partly  through  fear  and  partly  to 
cover  the  infamy  of  the  past  from  their  own  and  the 
eyes  of  the  world,  offered  either  to  sell  out  their  own 
lands  in  the  county,  or  to  buy  those  of  the  Mormons, 
on  the  same  terms,  taking  good  care,  however,  to  place 
the  pay-day  so  near  that  it  would  be  impossible  for  the 


48  DISTURBANCE    IN    CALDWELL    COUNTY. 

Mormons  to  raise  money  for  the  immense  tracts  owned 
by  the  citizens,  while,  on  the  other  hand,  they  could 
easily  pay  for  the  comparatively  few  acres  which  the 
Mormons  possessed.  In  Clay  county  a  council  was 
held,  and  the  expedition  was  abandoned,  and  Smith  re- 
turned home  again.  Smith's  divinity  seemed  to  be  more 
courageous  when  in  Ohio  than  when  within  gun-shot 
of  the  Missourians.  Besides,  the  cholera,  spite  of  faith 
and  gifts  of  healing,  broke  out  among  them,  and  most 
of  the  troops  dispersed  and  returned  home  in  a  short 
time. 

From  this  time,  the  saints  continued  to  gather  in 
peace,  in  Clay  and  the  adjoining  counties,  hoping  in  some 
way  to  get  the  promised  land,  until  1836,  when  the 
elders  returned  from  their  winter's  drilling,  in  Hebrew 
and  theology,  at  Kirtland,  and  in  the  course  of  the  sum- 
mer were  followed  by  a  new  swarm  from  the  parent 
hive.  This  ingress  again  excited  the  alarm  and  appre- 
hensions of  the  inhabitants  of  Clay  county,  and  the 
respectable  citizens  foreseeing  the  danger,  immediately 
stipulated  with  the  Mormons  to  leave  the  county,  on 
condition  of  their  securing  to  them  a  settlement  in  Cald- 
well county.  The  people  of  Caldwrell  gave  their  con- 
sent, the  matter  was  amicably  adjusted,  and  the  church 
thus  withdrew  voluntarily  to  Caldwell,  where  they  made 
unusual  outlays  in  lands,  improvements,  &c,  in  the  full 
confidence  that  this  would  prove  the  place  of  their 
final  rest. 

Friendship  and  mutual  confidence  were  beginning  to 
be  restored,  until  the  14th  of  March,  1838,  when  Smith 
and  Rigdon,  having  been,  as  we  have  seen,  driven  from 
Ohio,  came  to  the  "  Far  West,"  Missouri.  They  soon 
decided  to  establish  new  towns  in  several  counties.  One 


DISTURBANCE    IN    CALDWELL    COUNTY.  49 

in  Davis,  they  called  Adammondiaman,  or  "  Valley  of 
God,  in  which  Adam  blessed  his  children,"  as  they  in- 
terpret it.  Another,  called  De  Witt,  was  established 
in  Carroll  county,  and  around  these  cities  they  began  to 
rally  their  followers.  This  offended  the  citizens  of  the 
old  and  rival  towns  in  these  counties,  and  things  began 
to  wear  a  more  threatening  aspect,  until  some  of  the 
citizens  openly  declared  that  "  they  would  not  submit 
their  counties  to  the  rule  of  Joe  Smith." 

About  this  time,  the  Mormon  leaders,  beginning  to 
feel  some  confidence  in  their  own  strength,  abandoned 
their  former  principles  of  meekness,  forbearance,  and 
non-resistance,  and  began  to  talk  loud,  and  threaten  all 
who  might  oppose  them. 

They  said  "they  had  been  harassed  to  death,  by 
dissenters,  lawsuits,  and  mobs,  for  seven  or  eight  years, 
and  they  were  determined  to  endure  it  no  longer ;  that 
it  was  the  will  of  God  that  the  saints  should  fight  until 
death,  rather  than  endure  such  things,  and  if  they  would 
only  have  faith,  God  would  protect  them,  if  their  ene- 
mies were  ever  so  numerous,  and  the  time  was  not  far 
distant  when  '  one  should  chase  a  thousand,  and  two 
put  ten  thousand  to  flight.'  "  Under  this  kind  of  preach- 
ing, which  was  the  chief  topic  with  the  elders  through 
the  summer,  the  church  became  inspired  with  the  belief 
that  God  would  enable  them  to  stand  against  the  Union, 
should  they  come  against  them  en  masse.  Many,  how- 
ever, became  disgusted  at  these  doctrines,  and  alarmed 
at  their  probable  consequences,  but  remonstrance  against 
the  prophet  of  the  Lord  was  of  no  use.  Already 
there  were  many  dissenters  in  the  church,  and  others 
in  whom  the  prophet  could  not  confide  ;  but,  as  perfect 
union  was  necessary  to  their  success,  secret  meetings 

5 


50  SALT    SERMON DANITES. 

were  held,  and  secret  plans  were  laid,  for  rooting  out 
the  dissenters  from  their  midst.  Some  had  one  plan, 
and  some  another,  until  Rigdon  preached  his  famous 
"Salt  Sermon,"  in  which  he  gave  them  to  understand,  that, 
according  to  his  text,  the  dissenters,  who  had  lost  their 
savor,  ought  to  be  literally  cast  out  and  trodden  under 
foot  by  the  real  saints,  until  their  bowels  gushed  out ; 
and  in  further  illustration  of  this  doctrine,  he  remarked 
that  Judas  did  not  fall  without  help,  but  that  the  apos- 
tles threw  him  headlong,  and  trampled  out  his  bowels 
with  their  feet.  He  said  also,  that,  in  fact,  Peter  stabbed 
Ananias  and  Sapphira,  and  the  deacons  carried  them 
out  and  buried  them.  In  conclusion,  he  recommended 
these  pious  examples  to  the  imitation  of  his  hearers,  in 
the  case  of  the  dissenters,  the  enemies  of  God  and  man. 

About  this  time  also,  June,  1838,  the  famous  Danite 
society  was  formed.     The  members  secretly  entered 
into  solemn  covenant  before  God,  and  bound  themselves 
on  oath,  with  penalty  of  death,  to  keep  the  secrets  of 
the  society,  to  stand  by  one  another  in  trouble,  to  uphold 
the  presidency — Smith,  Rigdon  &  Co. — and  sustain  it, 
and  each  other,  in  all  they  did, "  whether  right  or  wrong." 
They  numbered  about  three  hundred.     They  first  went 
by  the  name  of  the  "Big- fan,"  then  the  society  was  called 
"  The  Daughter  of  Zion,"  and  finally,  the  "Danite  So 
ciety."    They  were  organized  into  companies  of  fifties 
and  subdivisions  of  tens,  with  suitable  officers,  and  se 
cret  signs,  by  which  they  might  know  each  other,  bj 
day  or  night,  in  order  the  better  to  carry  out  their  plans 

Few  of  the  church,  or,  indeed,  of  the  "  Danite  So 
ciety,"  understood  the  real  design  of  their  leaders  in  all 
this.  They  were  told  that  it  was  a  measure  of  self 
defence  against  the  mob  ;  but  this  was  only  a  smai! 


DANITES   POISONING    WELLS DESTRUCTIONISTS.       51 

part  of  the  truth :  they  were,  in  reality,  the  chosen 
agents  for  carrying  the  principles  of  the  "  Salt  Sermon," 
and  other  kindred  discourses  against  the  dissenters,  into 
execution.  Some  of  the  dissenters  knew  this  so  well, 
that  they  speedily  withdrew  themselves  from  the  church 
and  the  county.  Among  these  were  John  Whitmer, 
David  Whitmer,  Jacob  Whitmer,  Hiram  Page,  and 
Oliver  Cowdery,  all  witnesses  to  the  book  of  Mormon, 
and  Lyman  Johnson,  one  of  the  twelve  apostles,  and 
others  of  less  note. 

In  one  of  the  Danites'  secret  meetings,  one  of  their 
leaders,  by  name  Lyman  Wight,  informed  them  that, 
although  they  had  expected  that  God  would  bring  his 
judgments  of  fire  and  sword,  famine  and  pestilence, 
upon  their  enemies  the  Gentiles,  (Missourians,)  as  de- 
nounced in  their  holy  books,  without  their  aid,  still  the 
signs  of  the  times  were  fast  changing,  and  the  time  was 
not  far  distant  when  God  would  require  his  church  to 
go  forth,  like  the  Jews  of  old,  through  the  state,  and 
slay  man,  woman,  and  child. 

They  also  took  into  consideration  the  expediency  of 
predicting  a  great  pestilence  among  the  Gentiles,  and 
then  poisoning  the  wells  and  springs  of  the  Missourians, 
in  order  to  secure  its  accomplishment.  Some  persons 
even  went  so  far  as  to  declare,  "  that  they  would  kill 
any  individuals,  in  or  out  of  the  church,  if  the  presi- 
dency should  say  it  was  the  will  of  God,  for  they  be- 
lieved it  was  necessary,  sometimes,  to  do  such  things, 
to  save  the  church  from  corruption  and  destruction." 
All  this  time,  the  press  and  pulpit  were  exhorting  and 
haranguing  them  to  purify  themselves  from  all  evil — - 
from  all  things  and  persons  offensive  to  God — that  is, 
lo  the  prophet  and  presidency ;  and  so  they  understood 


52  rigdon's  oration  and  spirit. 

it,  though  the  reader,  unapprised  of  the  facts,  would  inter- 
pret their  pious  exhortations  far  otherwise.  The  reader 
will  please  bear  this  in  mind,  while  reading  pious  Mormon 
exhortations  hereafter.  About  this  time,  also,  the  Mor- 
mons at  "  Far  West"  organized  a  company,  called  the 
"Destructionists,"  whose  leader  was  called  "The  Destroy- 
ing Angel."  The  duty  assumed  by  these  was,  to  lie  in  wait, 
and  if  the  citizens  left  their  houses  to  advance  upon  them, 
they  were  to  slip  in  behind,  and  burn  their  dwellings  in  their 
absence.  They  never,  however,  succeeded  in  their  design. 
On  the  4th  of  July,  1838,  Rigdon  delivered  a  cele- 
brated oration,  which  has  been  published.  At  the 
close,  after  haranguing  the  Mormons  on  the  sacred 
principles  of  freedom  and  American  citizenship,  in  an 
eloquent  and  appropriate  strain,  he  concluded  as  fol- 
lows:— "  We  take  God  to  witness,  and  the  holy  angels 
to  witness  this  day,  that  we  warn  all  men,  in  the 
name  of  Jesus  Christ,  to  come  on  us  no  more,  for- 
ever. The  man,  or  set  of  men,  who  attempt  it,  do  it 
at  the  expense  of  their  lives;  and  that  mob  that  comes 
on  us,  to  disturb  us,  there  shall  be  between  us  and  them  a 
war  of  extermination,  for  we  will  follow  them  till  the  last 
drop  of  their  blood  is  spilled,  or  else  they  will  have  to 
exterminate  us  :  for  we  will  carry  the  war  to  their  own 
houses,  and  their  own  families,  and  one  party  or  the 
other  shall  be  utterly  destroyed."  "  Remember  it,  all  men : 
no  man  shall  be  at  liberty  to  come  into  our  streets  to 
threaten  us  with  mobs,  for  if  he  does,  he  shall  atone  for 
it  before  he  leaves  the  place  :  neither  shall  he  be  at 
liberty  to  vilify  and  slander  us,  for  suffer  it  we  will  not 
in  this  place  :  neither  will  we  indulge  any  man,  or  set 
of  men,  in  instituting  vexatious  lawsuits  against  us,  to 
cheat  us  out  of  our  rights ;  if  they  attempt  it,  wo  be 


53 

unto  them.  We,  this  day,  then,  proclaim  ourselves  free, 
with  a  purpose  which  never  can  be  broken:  no, never: 
no,  never  :  •  no,  never  !"  This  oration  was  commended 
by  Smith,  as  may  be  seen  by  the  Elders'  Journal  of  the 
saints,  page  54,  and  was  received  at  the  time  with 
shoutings  and  hosannas  by  the  Mormons. 

About  this  time,  according  to  the  affidavit  of  W.  W. 
Phelps,  a  Mormon  of  great  authority,  and  a  writer  of 
considerable  note  in  the  earlier  history  of  Mormonism, 
given  before  the  civil  authorities  of  Missouri,  and  filed, 
and  forwarded  and  published  by  the  senate  of  the 
U.  S.,  Sidney  Rigdon  declared  before  a  number  of 
Mormons,  "  that  if  the  sheriff  came  after  them,  they 
would  kill  him,  and  if  any  opposed,  they  would  take 
off  their  heads."  Smith  followed  him  in  this  harangue, 
and  approved  of  his  sentiments.  At  another  time,  a 
large  number  of  Mormons  entered  into  solemn  cove- 
nant with  Rigdon,  in  presence  of  the  witness,  (Phelps,) 
"  that  if  any  Mormon  should  even  attempt  to  pack  his 
goods,  in  order  to  move  from  the  country,  any  one  of 
them  would-  kill  him,  and  throw  him  aside  into  the 
brush  without  saying  a  word,  and  all  the  burial  he 
should  have  should  be  in  a  '  turkey  buzzard's  guts.' " 
This  was  carried  by  acclamation,  with  uplifted  hands. 
The  second  resolve  was,  "  that  if  any  stranger  should 
appear  in  town,  looking  around,  he  should  be  despatched 
in  like  manner."  This  also  was  unanimously  carried. 
The  third  was,  "  to  conceal  all  things."  Rigdon  then 
remarked,  "  that  a  man  yesterday  slipped  his  breath  in 
this  way,"  and  "if  any  one  lisped  it  he  should  die." 

J.  M.  Hinkle  also  testifies,  before  the  same  court,  and 
in  the  same  document,  that  he  heard  the  prophet  harangue 
the  Mormon  troops,  when,  among  other  things  he  said, 

5* 


54  EXPULSION    FROM    MISSOURI. 

"  that  the  troops  gathering  through  the  county  were  all 

a  d d  mob  ;  that  he  had  tried  to  please  them  long 

enough  ;  that  he  had  tried  to  keep  the  law  long  enough ; 
but  as  to  keeping  the  law  of  Missouri  any  longer,  he 
did  not  intend  to  try  to  do  so."  That  "  the  whole  state 
was  a  mob  set,  and  if  they  came  to  fight  him,  he  would 
play  hell  with  their  apple-carts."  He  told  the  troops 
"  that  they  had  fought  heretofore  like  devils,  but  now 
they  must  fight  like  angels  ;  for  angels  could  whip 
devils  any  time,"  &c.  Several  other  Mormon  wit- 
nesses also  testify  to  the  same.  The  truth  is,  that  the 
accumulated  disasters  and  disgrace  of  the  prophet  and 
presidency  in  the  church,  and  the  infamous  abuse  both 
of  them  and  their  followers  by  the  mobs  of  Missouri, 
had  rendered  the  leaders  desperate ;  and  by  language 
and  conduct,  such  as  we  have  narrated  above,  they 
had  but  too  successfully  infused  the  same  spirit  into  the 
great  body  of  their  followers. 

They  said  "  they  had  been  driven  from  place  to 
place,  their  property  destroyed,  their  rights  as  Ameri- 
can citizens  trampled  upon  ;  they  could  get  no  redress 
from  civil  courts,  to  whom  they  had  at  first  quietly  ap- 
pealed, nor  from  the  executive,  nor  the  state.  They 
had  been  told  by  these  authorities  that  they  must  take 
care  of  themselves  in  their  hour  of  distress,  and  now 
they  intended  to  do  it."  "  They  were  determined  to 
clear  Davis  county  of  dissenters  and  mobs,  or  spill 
their  blood  in  the  street." 

The  mob,  on  the  other  hand,  had  been  equally  deter- 
mined to  expel  them,  even  long  before  any  well  authen- 
ticated outrage  on  the  part  of  the  Mormons  had  been 
committed  ;  their  fault  being  that  they  were  increasing 
more  rapidly  than  was  pleasant  or  desirable  to  the  citi- 


PERSECUTION    OF    MORMONS.  55 

zens.  These  mobocrats  succeeded  in  diffusing  their 
spirit  into  the  citizens  of  the  adjacent  counties,  and  in- 
sult succeeded  upon  insult,  until  finally  the  Mormons 
became  utterly  desperate,  and  they,  as  well  as  the 
mobocrats,  exposed  themselves  to  the  just  indignation 
of  the  virtuous  citizens  of  the  state,  and  were  finally, 
after  much  plundering  and  skirmishing  on  both  sides, 
and  some  bloodshed,  driven  en  masse  from  the  state. 
The  number  of  exiles  is  stated  at  twelve  thousand  by 
the  Mormons.  The  disgusting  details  of  this  savage 
war  we  will  pass  over  in  silence.  It  is  said  that  the 
number  of  Mormons  killed  in  these  several  conflicts 
were,  in  all,  twenty-five  or  thirty,  and  that  not  less  than 
twelve  or  fifteen  thousand  Mormons  were  expelled  by 
the  "  exterminatory  order"  of  Governor  Boggs.  Under 
this  order  they  were  ultimately  compelled  to  give  up 
their  leaders  to  the  civil  authorities,  to  be  detained  in 
prison  for  trial  on  various  charges,  to  surrender  their 
arms,  amounting  to  about  600  guns,  besides  swords 
and  pistols,  and  give  up  all  their  property  to  pay  their 
debts  in  Missouri,  and  damages  in  the  state,  and  then 
to  leave  the  state  forthwith. 

The  sufferings  of  this  abused  and  deluded  multitude 
in  traversing  that  wild  and  desolate  country  amid  the 
bleak  winds  and  snows  of  November,  men,  women, 
and  children,  without  friends,  or  shelter,  or  food,  or 
even  clothes,  were  truly  heart-rending  and  almost  in- 
credible. During  these  trials  in  Missouri,  women  were 
compelled  to  march  barefoot,  over  frozen  ground,  until 
their  feet  bled  ;  several  gave  birth  to  children  in  the 
woods  or  on  the  prairies,  without  shelter,  bed,  or  bed- 
ding ;  some  men  were  caught  and  most  cruelly  beaten — 
one  until  his  bowels  gushed  out,  and  he  died  on  the 


56  TRAGEDY    AT    HOW's    MILLS, 

spot ;  and  all  this  because  he  returned  to  Jackson 
county  to  endeavor  to  secure  a  remnant  of  his  property. 

One  gang  placed  a  Mormon  prisoner  in  front  of  them, 
and  deliberately  shot  him.  The  same  gang  even  dug 
up  the  dead  and  vented  their  spleen  upon  them,  when 
they  had  not  courage  to  face  the  living.  At  the 
tragedy  at  How's  Mills,  October  30th,  1838,  another 
gang  of  cowardly  villains,  240  in  number,  from  Grand 
River,  after  having  lulled  a  few  Mormons  into  quiet  by 
false  professions  of  peace  and  friendship,  suddenly  fell 
upon  them  at  night,  and  drove  nearly  twenty  into 
an  open  blacksmith's  shop,  and  deliberately  massacred 
them  there  by  shooting  through  the  logs  ;  eighteen  or 
nineteen  fell  in  this  wanton  slaughter. 

One  boy,  Sardius  Smith,  nine  years  old,  hid  under 
the  bellows,  where  he,  was  discovered  after  the  general 
massacre  was  over,  by  a  Mr.  G.,  who  presented  his 
rifle  near  his  head,  and  literally  blowed  off  the  upper 
part  of  it.  G.,  it  is  said,  has  openly  boasted  of  this  de- 
testable cowardice,  and  still  he  and  his  comrades  are 
suffered  to  roam  at  large,  while  the  Mormons,  both 
guilty  and  innocent,  men,  women,  and  children,  were 
driven  from  the  state  in  the  dead  of  winter,  without 
shelter,  food,  or  fire. 

The  facts  above  stated  are  reported  on  the  authority 
of  the  Mormons,  in  a  book  published  by  John  F.  Green, 
authorized  representative  of  the  Mormons.  Such  facts, 
it  is  true,  would  be  utterly  incredible  on  this  or  almost 
any  testimony,  were  they  not  alleged  as  the  acts 
of  mobocrats.  But  from  such  savages  as  advocate 
mob  law  in  a  free  country  governed  solely  by  law, 
nothing  better  is  to  be  expected  ;  for  it  is  only  by  shoot- 
ing prisoners,  hacking  dead  men  in  pieces,  blowing 


CRIMINALITY    OP    THE    PARTIES.  57 

boys'  brains  out,  and  plundering  and  insulting  defence- 
less women  and  children,  that  they  can  show  the  true 
nature  of  their  valorous  chivalry  and  courage.  Such 
outrages,  doubtless,  the  great  body  of  the  citizens  of 
Missouri  regarded  with  appropriate  detestation  and 
horror.  In  this  quarrel  the  Mormons  were  much  in 
the  wrong,  and  their  leaders,  Smith  and  Rigdon  espe- 
cially, deserved  a  much  sorer  punishment  at  the  hands 
of  the  Missourians  than  they  will  ever  get.  But  were 
Mormon  women  and  children  in  fault  ?  Did  they  de- 
serve banishment  or  death?  Were  those  dissenters 
and  others  who  did  all  they  could  do  for  the  state, 
worthy  of  death  ?  Who  began  the  quarrel  ?  Was  it 
the  Mormons?  Is  it  not  notorious,  on  the  contrary, 
that  they  were  hunted,  like  wild  beasts,  from  county  to 
county,  before  they  made  any  desperate  resistance? 
Did  they  ever,  as  a  body,  refuse  obedience  to  the  laws, 
when  called  upon  to  do  so,  until  driven  to  desperation 
by  repeated  threats  and  assaults  on  the  part  of  the 
mob  ?  Did  the  state  ever  make  one  decent  effort  to 
defend  them,  as  fellow-citizens,  in  their  rights,  or  to  re- 
dress their  wrongs  ?  Let  the  conduct  of  its  governors, 
attorneys,  and  the  fate  of  their  final  petitions  answer. 
Have  any  who  plundered  and  openly  massacred  the 
Mormons  ever  been  brought  to  the  punishment  due  to 
their  crimes  ?  Let  the  boasting  murderers  of  begging 
and  helpless  infancy  answer.  Has  the  state  ever  re- 
munerated even  those  known  to  be  innocent,  for  the  loss 
of  either  their  property  or  their  arms  ?  Did  either  the 
pulpit  or  the  press  through  the  state  raise  a  note  of  re- 
monstrance or  alarm  ?  Let  the  clergymen  who  abet- 
ted, and  the  editors  who  encouraged  the  mob,  answer. 
We  know  that  there  were  many  noble  exceptions;  but, 


58  ARRIVAL    AT    QUINCY, 

alas,  that  they  were  so  few  !  We  hate  the  Mormon 
imposture ;  it  is  from  beginning  to  end  utterly  detestable, 
both  in  its  principles  and  its  effects.  Mormonism  is  a 
monstrous  evil ;  and  the  only  place  where  it  ever  did 
or  ever  could  shine,  this  side  the  world  of  despair,  is  by 
the  side  of  the  Missouri  mob.  In  that  position  it  really 
shines,  not  inherently,  but  from  contrast ;  and  it  is  in- 
deed to  be  hoped  that  the  citizens  of  Illinois,  where  the 
Mormons  are  now  located,  whatever  may  or  may  not 
come,  will  never  disgrace  their  state,  their  nation,  and 
their  age,  or  degrade  themselves  and  shame  their  pos- 
terity by  resorting  to  mob  law,  either  against  the  Mor- 
mons or  anybody  else.  We  have  already  had  enough 
of  that ;  it  is  time  to  stop.  I  know  it  is  said  that  mob 
law  is  good,  and  even  indispensable  in  its  place.  But 
to  make  it  a  place  where  it  may  triumph  with  impunity, 
the  laws  both  of  man  and  God  must  be  suspended. 
True,  deliberate  public  opinion,  when  given  in  legal 
forms,  without  passion  or  alarm,  is  the  only  safe  foun- 
tain of  authority  and  ground  of  freedom.  But,  when 
heated  by  present  danger  and  excited  passion,  it  is  the 
most  insatiate  and  despicable  of  all  tyrants. 

After  the  Mormons  were  thus  infamously  and  cruelly 
driven  from  their  lands  and  their  homes,  and  robbed  of 
their  arms,  corn,  cattle,  horses,  swine,  utensils,  clothes, 
and  indeed  of  all  that  renders  life  tolerable,  they  wan- 
dered in  the  dead  of  winter  through  the  state  of  Mis- 
souri, toward  the  Mississippi.  A  large  number  arrived 
opposite  Quincy,  during  the  months  of  February  and 
March,  1839,  where  they  found  the  ice  running  so  fast 
that  they  were  obliged  to  encamp  in  the  open  woods, 
without  clothes  or  shelter,  on  the  opposite  bank  of  the 
river.     Among  this  miserable  and  destitute  multitude, 


ARRIVAL    AT    QUINCYi  59 

Were  not  only  naked  children,  and  famished  infants, 
and  married  women  in  delicate  and  critical  circum- 
stances, but  also  about  twenty  females,  whom  the  sav- 
age ferocity  of  mob  law  had  deprived  not  only  of  their 
living,  but  also  of  their  husbands  and  friends,  who  had 
either  been  butchered  before  their  eyes,  as  narrated 
above,  or  had  sunk  beneath  the  lingering  torments  of 
hunger,  cold,  despair,  and  want.  The  citizens  of  Quincy, 
to  the  honor  of  themselves,  of  civilization,  and  human- 
ity, immediately  called  a  public  meeting,  passed  appro- 
priate resolves,  expressive  of  their  abhorrence  and  de- 
testation of  the  principles  of  the  authors  of  their  ca- 
lamity, and  entered  upon  a  course  of  vigorous  and  sys- 
tematic efforts  to  relieve  their  necessities  and  provide 
for  their  future  wants. 

A  similar  course  of  conduct  toward  the  refugees, 
has  in  part  wiped  off  the  disgrace  which  the  mobs  of 
Missouri  had  inflicted  upon  human  nature  and  the 
American  name. 

After  casting  about  them,  for  a  time,  to  retrieve  their 
misfortunes,  the  prophet  and  his  comrades  selected  the 
town  of  Commerce,  on  the  Mississippi,  in  Hancock 
county,  Illinois,  to  be  the  future  centre  of  their  opera- 
tions, under  the  name  of  the  "  Stake  at  Nauvoo,"  or  the 
beautiful  city.  Toward  this  point  their  forces  have 
been  concentrating  for  the  past  two  years  from  all  parts 
of  the  Union,  from  Canada,  and  even  from  Europe. 
Between  eight  and  ten  thousand  have  already  gathered 
around  this  beautiful  site — but  two  years  since  an  open 
but  fertile  desert.  The  reader  must  also  know,  that 
their  elders  and  preachers  traverse,  at  this  time,  the 
globe,  as  far  as  Syria  on  the  east,  and  the  Rocky  Moun- 
tains on  the  west ;  and  that  thev  have  not  been  slow  to  im- 


60  NUMBER  AND  PROGRESS  OF  MORMONS, 

prove  their  persecutions  in  Missouri,  as  a  prime  means 
of  arousing  sympathy  and  securing  proselytes.  They 
now  boast  one  hundred  thousand  converts  in  the  United 
States  and  Canada,  besides  multitudes  in  the  old  world. 
This  is  probably  an  exaggeration,  but  their  forces  have 
undoubtedly  been  increased,  both  from  the  utter  negli- 
gence of  the  wise,  and  the  infamous  persecution  of 
their  foes.  They  have  also  many  other  "  stakes"  or 
centres,  in  other  places,  the  names  of  which  are  un- 
known. Their  leaders  have  again  succeeded  in  regain- 
ing the  confidence  of  the  multitude,  whom  they  train 
to  speak  with  the  same  voice,  and  strike  with  the  same 
arm.  Indeed,  nothing  can  exceed  the  utter  and  abject 
subordination  of  the  hordes  at  their  heels,  who  still  im- 
agine that  they  are  governed  by  no  law,  and  no  rule, 
save  only  the  direct  teaching  of  the  Spirit  of  God  in 
their  own  souls.  Nothing  can  offend  them  sooner,  than 
to  intimate  that  they  are  governed  by  Joseph  Smith ; 
and  yet  his  voice  is  to  them  the  voice  of  destiny  and 
of  God.  Many,  however,  daily  fall  from  the  faith,  es- 
pecially of  those  who  are  allowed  .most  intimate  ac- 
quaintance at  head-quarters.  But  other  multitudes  fill 
up  their  ranks ;  and  such  is  the  unbounded  sway  of 
the  prophet  over  their  minds,  that  they  will  not  believe 
a  word  spoken  against  him  or  his  church,  either  by  a 
dissenter  or  any  one  else.  "  They  are  all  Gentile  lies," 
or  "  dissenters'  lies  :"  their  papers  tell  them  so,  and  they 
believe  it.  Nor  will  the  absurdities  and  contradictions 
of  their  inspired  works  have  the  least  weight  to  change 
their  minds,  though  pointed  out  to  them  by  scores.  "  I 
know,  after  all,  that  Mormonism  is  true,"  say  they,  "  for 
God  has  revealed  it  to  my  own  conscience  by  his 
Spirit." 


CHARTERS    IN    ILLINOIS,  61 

Their  leaders  are  now  launching  out  again,  to  pro- 
cure the  handling  of  a  little  more  cash.  Accordingly, 
at  the  last  session  of  the  legislature  of  Illinois,  they  ob- 
tained six  charters :  one  incorporating  their  city  with 
peculiar  privileges ;  another  incorporating  a  standing 
army,  under  the  name  of  the  "  Nauvoo  Legion ;"  an- 
other incorporating  a  company  for  the  building  of  a 
temple,  worth  some  one  hundred  thousand  dollars  ;  an- 
other for  building  a  tavern-house,  worth  one  hundred 
thousand  dollars  more ;  another  for  incorporating  a 
school ,for  the  prophets,  under  the  name  of  the  Nauvoo 
University,  and  another  for  incorporating  a  manufac- 
turing company.  All  these  objects  will  of  course  cause 
a  pretty  sum  of  money  to  pass  through  the  hands  of 
the  prophet  and  his  friends  ;  and  should  they  turn  bank- 
rupt, as  they  did  in  Ohio,  it  is  not  to  be  presumed  that 
these  servants  of  the  Lord  would  allow  any  of  this 
filthy  lucre  to  stick  to  their  fingers. 

Such,  in  general,  are  their  present  condition  and 
prospects.  Many,  who  were  intimately  acquainted 
with  their  distracted  condition  at  the  commencement  of 
the  mobs  in  Jackson  county,  Missouri,  and  even  some 
who  belonged  to  the  society,  and  were  on  the  ground 
at  the  time,  were  fully  of  the  opinion  that  the  errors 
of  their  leaders  previous  to  that  crisis  would  have 
proved  irretrievable,  had  it  not  been  for  the  opportune 
and  signal  aid  of  the  mob,  who  at  once  put  into  their 
power  the  means  of  diverting  the  minds  of  their  follow- 
ers from  the  multiplied  sources  of  doubt  and  despair 
which  were  fast  thickening  around  them,  and  had  vir- 
tually withdrawn  already  many  from  their  ranks,  to 
concentrate  their  energies  and  animate  their  passions 
and  their  hopes  anew,  and,  by  the  cry  of  persecution 

6 


62  RESULTS  OF  THE  PERSECUTION. 

and  martyrdom,  to  throw  themselves  upon  the  same 
exalted  station  of  the  saints  and  martyrs  of  old,  and 
thus  rouse  the  before  listless  attention  of  the  unbeliev- 
ing multitude,  and  rally  both  their  prayers  and  their 
sympathies  to  their  aid. 

Whether  this  be  true  or  not,  such  results,  and  such 
only,  are  always  to  be  looked  for  and  expected  from 
persecutions.  And  if  it  at  last  shall  prove  that  the 
Missourians  threw  an  egg  from  their  casket,  which  else 
had  rotted  on  their  hands,  only  that  it  might  hatch  a 
scorpion  to  nestle  in  the  bosoms  of  their  sons,  they  may 
thank  themselves  for  their  pains.  Neither  the  laws, 
nor  the  constitution,  nor  their  country,  nor  their  age, 
nor  yet  the  wisest  and  best  of  the  citizens  of  their  own 
state,  advised  them  to  such  a  course.  They  may  smile 
at  such  a  suggestion ;  but,  before  we  close,  we  shall 
adduce  some  facts  to  show  why  they  have  reason  to 
fear  that  they  may  yet  be  wet  with  their  own  blood, 
if  some  remedy,  more  just  and  more  potent  than  mob- 
ocracy,  be  not  speedily  applied  to  the  fanaticism  of  the 
Mormons.  Should  the  Mormons  rally  their  forces,  and 
invade  Missouri,  as  their  leaders  undoubtedly  design, 
and  should  the  other  states,  as  perhaps  they  might, 
when  called  to  the  rescue,  reply — that  it  is  a  job  of 
their  own  seeking,  that  they  commenced  the  quarrel 
without  authority  and  without  advice,  and  now  they 
may  fight  it  out — should  these  things,  we  say,  happen, 
it  is  not  difficult  to  foresee  that  a  terrible  retribution 
would  ensue ;  and  many  of  the  ambiguous  prophecies 
of  Smith  would  be  at  once  interpreted  and  fulfilled. 
But  we  hope  for  better  things ;  we  hope  that  both  the 
ferocity  of  arms,  and  the  stupidity  of  silent  contempt, 


AUTHORITIES,  PROCLAMATIONS,  ETC.  63 

will  give  place  to  the  resistless  force  of  argument,  and 
the  cheering  and  convincing  light  of  reason  and  truth. 

Our  authorities  for  the  brief  and  general  statements 
made  above,  are  the  documents  submitted  to  Congress 
by  the  Missouri  legislature  ;  "  Facts  relative  to  the  ex- 
pulsion of  the  Mormons,"  by  John  P.  Green ;  "History 
of  the  Church  of  Latter  Day  Saints,"  by  John  Corril ; 
Winchester's  "  Biography  of  Dr.  Hurlbert ;"  "  Boothe's 
Letters  ;"  the  various  periodicals  and  publications  of 
the  Mormons  at  the  time  of  the  mob,  and  "  Mormonism 
Portrayed,"  by  William  Harris. 

Some  of  these  authorities  throw  the  whole  blame  of 
the  Missouri  war  upon  one  party,  and  some  upon  the 
other :  we  are  disposed  to  share  it  equally  between 
them.  We  deem  Mormons  and  mobocrats  about  an 
equal  match,  saving  always  the  helpless  wives  and  chil- 
dren of  both  parties. 

Smith's  present  pecuniary  operations  consist  mainly 
in  purchasing  land  at  a  low  price,  laying  out  town  lots, 
and  selling  at  high  prices  to  his  followers.  He  has  made 
several  towns  in  this  manner,  in  Illinois  and  Iowa. 
During  the  past  year,  he  has  made  two  proclamations  to 
his  followers,  throughout  the  world,  to  come  and  gather 
around  him,  and  the  ten  thousand  Mormons  in  England, 
and  the  one  hundred  thousand  on  this  continent,  are  all 
in  motion.  Nauvoo  increases  by  thousands  annually.  In 
the  "Times  and  Seasons,"  of  June  1,  1841,  a  reve- 
lation is  given,  addressed  to  all  the  kings  of  the  earth, 
and  all  the  saints,  commanding  them  to  bring  their  gold 
and  silver,  and  precious  stones,  &c,  &c,  and  lay  them 
at  the  feet  of  the  prophet,  for  building  the  splendid 
temple  at  Nauvoo.  It  runs  on  this  wise  : — "  Awake, 
O  kings  of  the  earth  ;  come  ye,  O !  come  ye,  with  your 


64  TEMPLE,  BAPTISM,  POLLS,  CIVIL    WAR,  ETC. 

gold  and  silver,  to  the  help  of  my  people,  to  the  house 
of  the  daughter  of  Zion  !"  &c.  They  are  also  informed 
that  all  must  baptize  for  the  dead,  at  the  temple  at  Nau~ 
voo,  after  it  is  completed.  This  must  eventually  con- 
centrate all  Mormons  around  Nauvoo.  Their  standing 
army,  chartered  by  the  state  of  Illinois,  is  kept  con- 
stantly on  the  drill,  under  their  general.  Their  books 
are  full  of  prophecies  of  the  utter  destruction  of  all  un- 
believers, and  the  overthrow  of  all  governments  save 
their  own,  and  still,  full  of  the  most  courteous  profes- 
sions of  subjection  to  the  civil  power.  See  B.  C,  pages 
191,  95,  117;  Voice  of  Warning,  page  186,  &c,  where 
it  will  be  seen  that  unbelievers  "  shall  be  cut  off,"  brought 
"under  the  feet"  of  the  Mormons,  "  torn  in  pieces,"  "  de- 
stroyed from  off  the  face  of  the  land,"  &c,  &c,  and 
that  too,  as  Pratt  prophesies,  in  less  than  fifty  years. 
Their  leaders  understand  all  this ;  their  followers  do 
not.  It  will,  probably,  be  first  expounded  in  full  to  the 
Missourians,  for  Smith's  divinity  is  definitely  and  posi- 
tively pledged  to  retake  Zion  in  Jackson  county,  either 
by  stratagem  or  force,  or  the  whole  scheme  must  inevi- 
tably fail,  even  with  the  Mormons.  This  explains  the 
gathering  at  Nauvoo,  on  the  borders  of  Missouri.  Our 
demagogues  would  do  well  to  look  at  these  things,  be- 
fore they  involve  us  in  a  civil  war  with  our  sister  state. 
Smith  has  also  issued  his  mandate,  enjoining  all  his 
followers  to  assemble  at  the  polls,  and  vote  for  the 
democratic  ticket  at  the  next  election.  This  also  ex- 
plains the  silence  of  many  presses,  and  the  pliancy  and 
sycophancy  of  the  demagogues  in  both  political  parties. 
Some  of  them  flatter  and  fawn  around  the  Mormons  ; 
all  fear  them.  This  is  truly  alarming.  Real  estate 
constantly  falls  in  value,  in  their  vicinity,  except  that 
held  by  Mormons. 


INSTINCT    OF    FAITH.  65 


CHAPTER  III. 

COMPARISON    OF    MORMOMISM  WITH    SIMILAR    FANATICISMS. 

Instinct  of  faith — Instinct  of  independence — Desire  of  power — Operation 
of  these  to  produce  general  credulity  and  fanaticism — False  Messiahs 
— Peculiar  analogous  fanaticisms — Serpentinians — Millenarians — Cir- 
concelleones — Stylites — Eonites  —  Beghards — Quietists  —  Whippers, 
Dancers,  Jumpers,  and  Men  of  Understanding — Anabaptists — Davidists 
— Illuminati — Knipperdolings — Madame  Bowrignon — Seekers — Mug- 
gletonians* —  Camisards — Falling  Swords  —  Swedenborgians — Salem 
witchcraft — Glassites — Ann  Lee — Jemima  Wilkinson — Joanna  South- 
cote — Richard  Brothers — French  infidels — Mad  Thom,  Dilks,  David- 
son, Miss  Campbell,  Irving,  Mathias,  and  Joe  Smith — Successive  crops 
of  fanatics  and  causes — General  agreement  of  fanatics — The  bottle  con- 
juror— Love  of  exciting  marvels — Rule  for  fanatics. 

Having  considered  the  rise  and  progress  of  Mormon- 
ism,  we  pause  for  a  moment  to  compare  it  with  similar 
delusions. 

Much  of  the  history  of  our  race,  in  respect  to  reli- 
gion, is  the  history  of  fanaticism.  Amid  so  vast  an 
amphitheatre  of  religious  lunatics,  we  shall  find  some 
more  eccentric,  if  not  more  insane,  than  others ;  and 
by  casting  our  eyes  back  upon  the  scene,  and  reflecting 
upon  the  credulity  and  weakness  of  the  race,  we  shall 
be  better  prepared  to  appreciate  this  new  development 
of  human  folly,  and  to  contemplate  its  absurdities  with- 
out either  amazement  or  alarm. 

There  are  three  fundamental  principles  which  sway 
the  destinies  of  the  human  race. 

1.  The  religious  element  in  the  nature  of  man,  which 
I  shall  call  the  instinct  of  faith. 

2.  The  instinct  of  independence. 

6* 


66  INSTINCT    OF    FAITH* 

3.   The  desire  of  power. 

These  instincts,  propensities,  or  tendencies,  exist  in 
all ;  but  the  two  former  are  more  fully  developed  in 
the  multitude,  while  the  more  exorbitant  and  striking 
manifestations  of  the  latter  are  seen  only  in  the  few. 

By  the  instinct  of  faith  I  do  not  mean  any  principle  that 
is  so  inherent  in  the  nature  of  man,  that  its  develop- 
ment appears  at  the  moment  of  his  birth,  and  which 
cannot,  by  any  possible  combination  of  influences,  be 
made  to  disappear.  But  I  mean  a  universal  propensity 
to  worship,  and  to  fear  some  higher  power  than  human, 
which,  by  the  necessary  action  of  external  influences 
and  events,  is  invariably  developed,  before  the  period 
of  maturity,  in  all  the  appropriate  circumstances  of 
human  existence.  Thus  the  instinctive  nature  of  man 
leads  him  to  build  houses,  wear  clothes,  and  eat  bread, 
though  he  neither  builds  houses  nor  eats  bread  at  his 
birth,  and  though  some  savages,  or  maniacs,  may  be 
found  who  live  on  roots  in  the  open  air.  Still,  such  a 
state  is  no  more  proved  to  be  the  nature  of  man  than 
that  it  is  the  nature  of  fish  to  live  on  dry  land,  because 
a  few  are  found  flouncing  in  an  exhausted  pool. 

In  this  sense  man  alone,  of  all  other  animals,  is  en- 
dowed with  a  religious  instinct,  or  an  instinct  of 
faith.  His  nature  impels  him  to  be  a  religious  being; 
to  worship  and  to  fear  some  power  higher  than  human. 
Skeptics  may  rail  at  this  ;  they  cannot  help  it.  They 
may  call  this  propensity  the  result  of  reason  or  of  su- 
perstition, of  chance,  of  education,  of  wisdom,  or  of 
folly  ;  it  is  still  human  nature ;  and  it  will  plead  with, 
and  warn  even  them,  sometimes,  in  spite  of  themselves. 
And  whether  philosophical  or  unphilosophical,  the  at- 
tempt to  exterminate  it  is  as  vain  as  to  attempt  to  exter- 


INSTINCT    OF    INDEPENDENCE.  67 

minate  human  nature  itself,  and  let  man  still  live.  Pride, 
passion,  and  lust  may  either  pervert  or  expel  it,  as  the 
love  of  brandy  sometimes  expels  the  desire  of  water. 
Still  God,  the  omnipotent  and  the  wise,  has  made  man 
to  be  a  true  and  rational  worshipper  of  himself;  and 
man  cannot  avoid  the  action  of  this  propensity  without 
depraving  and  degrading  every  principle  of  his  moral 
and  social  nature.  He  must  be  a  religious  being  in 
some  way.  The  only  question  is  whether  truth  and 
reason,  or  folly  and  nonsense,  shall  lie  at  the  basis  of 
his  devotion.  If  he  will  not  bow  before  the  omnipotent 
God,  and  yield  to  the  clemency  of  heaven,  he  must  fall 
before  human  absurdities,  and  be  crushed  by  the  arro- 
gance of  man.  Hence  every  departure  from  the  true 
and  rational  worship  of  God  is  based  on  credulity ;  for 
it  necessarily  implies  the  belief  of  some  absurdity. 
Atheism  itself  is  not  mere  unbelief;  it  implies  actual 
belief  in  the  grossest  of  all  absurdities,  not  excepting 
the  worship  of  Juggernaut. 

These  religious  elements  take  such  a  deep  hold  of 
human  nature  that  they  necessarily  move  and  control 
all  else.  Hence  if  you  move  and  control  these,  you 
give  direction  to  all  the  energies  of  his  nature.  Pros- 
tituted to  falsehood,  they  are  ever  the  ready  and  most 
efficient  instruments  of  the  tyrant  and  the  despot. 
Guided  by  reason  and  truth,  they  are  the  sole  founda- 
tion of  personal  freedom  and  safety,  and  of  public  order 
and  peace. 

2.  The  instinct  of  independence,  or  an  instinctive 
aversion  to  all  restraint  whatever,  come  from  what 
source  it  may,  is  another  fundamental  element  in  hu- 
man nature. 

We  all  naturally  love  to  think,  speak,  act,  and  feel 


68  DESIRE    OF    INDEPENDENCE. 

as  we  please  ;  to  follow  our  momentary  and  transient 
impulses,  without  hindrance  or  restraint,  right  or  wrong. 
To  be  without  this  aversion  to  restraint,  this  innate 
love  of  licentious  freedom,  is  to  be  more  or  less  than 
human.  Call  it  selfishness,  call  it  depravity,  call  it 
what  you  will,  it  is  human  nature,  and,  so  far  as  we  can 
see,  it  is  absolutely  inseparable,  not  only  from  human 
nature,  but  from  all  animal  existence. 

Its  influence  throughout  animal  nature  is  as  constant 
and  universal  as  the  law  of  gravitation,  and  its  tendency, 
when  unrestrained  by  higher  instincts  and  principles,  is 
always  in  the  same  direction,  downward,  from  the  angel 
toward  the  brute.  It  was  made  to  direct  and  control 
all  animals,  except  where  some  higher  power  interposes; 
and  it  was  designed  to  guide  and  control  man,  except 
where  God  interposes  through  rational  appeals  to  the 
instinct  of  faith:  It  was  designed  at  once  to  ensure 
the  proper  and  rational  independence  and  integrity  of 
the  individual,  and  to  rescue  him  from  all  rule  and  all 
control,  save  the  just  and  needful  sway  of  heaven.  In 
the  mouth  of  the  Christian  apostles,  it  says,  "  Whether 
it  be  right  to  fear  man  more  than  God,  judge  ye  ;"  but, 
perverted  in  the  mouth  of  a  Voltaire,  it  says,  "  Crush 
the  wretch  ! !  !" 

It  must,  however,  in  general  own  a  God.  But  the 
true  God  is  all-seeing  and  omnipotent.  His  claims  are 
necessarily  omnipotent.  It  must  be  religious.  But  the 
restraints  of  rational  worship,  though  both  natural  and 
salutary,  are  at  once  onerous,  constant,  and  ever  pres- 
ent. It  yields  to  the  instinct  of  faith  because  it  cannot 
help  it.  But  it  would  fain  stipulate  for  more  freedom 
than  either  truth  or  the  rational  worship  of  the  true 
God  can  give.     Hence  it  corrupts  religion,  and  thus 


DESIRE    OF    POWER.  69 

avoids  God  by  stratagem,  since  it  cannot  do  it  by  force. 
It  bows  to  falsehoods  and  humbugs  of  its  own  creation, 
and  thus,  by  grasping  at  more  freedom  than  either  God 
or  truth  can  give,  it  massacres  all  freedom  and  all 
safety,  and,  in  the  end,  by  an  act  of  suicide,  it  destroys 
itself.  It  hesitates  to  bound  upward  toward  heaven  ; 
it  stumbles  and  falls  into  hell. 

3.  Instinctive  desire  of  power. — But,  indomitable  as 
is  this  aversion  to  restraint,  there  is  one  thing  which 
every  son  of  Adam  loves  a  little  better  than  this  much- 
desired  freedom  ;  and  that  is  a  little  poiver.  Give  them 
that  little,  and  they  want  a  little  more — and  a  little 
more — and  so  on,  until  the  whole  world  is  beneath 
their  feet ;  and  then,  like  Alexander  of  old,  they  sit 
down  and  cry  for  a  little  more  power.  This  instinctive 
love  of  power  was  designed  to  stimulate  us  to  the  ac- 
quisition of  those  high  moral  and  intellectual  endow- 
ments, in  which,  above  all,  natural  excellence  and  supe- 
riority consists  ;  and  to  impel  us  to  the  use  of  these 
commanding  qualities  for  the  benefit,  instruction,  gui- 
dance, and  elevation  of  those  less  highly  favored  than 
ourselves.  But  it  has  been  perverted  and  prostituted  to 
ends  purely  selfish.  It  was  designed  to  acquire  and  dis- 
pense truth  for  the  good  of  the  race.  It  has  grasped 
sophistry  and  lies,  and  wielded  them,  of  course,  only 
for  destruction.  This  perversion  results  from  the  fact 
that  it  exists  in,  and  works  among  a  race,  who,  as  we 
have  seen,  in  a  matter  of  the  highest  concern,  love  a 
lie  better  than  the  truth. 

These  three  fundamental  principles  or  instincts  of 
humanity,  if  allowed  to  act  as  God  designed,  would 
constitute  the  true  freedom  and  glory  of  our  nature. 
But,  when  perverted,  they  become  the  most  efficient 


70  OPERATION    OF    INSTINCTS. 

instruments  of  tyranny,  degradation,  and  shame.  It 
cannot  be  shown  that  moral  and  accountable  beings 
could  exist  without  them ;  nor  that  their  perversion 
and  consequent  evils  could  be  prevented,  except  by  the 
protracted  and  terrible  experience  of  the  mischiefs  that 
ensue.  Be  this  as  it  may,  all  these  instincts  were  ori- 
ginally angels  of  mercy.  Two  of  them,  by  perversion 
have  become  devils,  and  made  war  upon  the  third. 
Here,  then,  is  human  nature,  with  one  pure  impulse 
from  heaven,  struggling  against  two  perverted  im- 
pulses from  hell.  Hitherto  the  base  and  the  malign 
have  grappled  the  pure  and  the  good  by  the  throat, 
and  held  it  in  the  dust.  But  their  grasp  is  hourly  re- 
laxing, and  their  ultimate  defeat  is  both  glorious  and 
sure. 

Hitherto  the  love  of  power  for  selfish  ends,  in  the 
few,  and  the  aversion  to  natural  religious  restraint,  in 
the  many,  have  co-operated  in  prostituting  the  instinct 
of  faith,  through  the  most  absurd  schemes  of  supersti- 
tion and  credulity,  to  the  vilest  ends  of  tyranny,  licen- 
tiousness, and  lust. 

The  multitude  must  have  some  scheme  of  faith :  they 
have  hated  the  restraints  of  the  true  one.  The  few 
have  perceived  the  predicament  of  the  many,  and, 
sympathizing  with  their  aversion  to  the  gospel,  they 
have  devised  and  imposed  upon  them  schemes  of  false 
religion  better  suited  to  their  own  ends,  of  political  or 
spiritual  tyranny  and  misrule.  But,  when  the  hand  of 
oppression  has  become  intolercrt>le,  the  multitude  have 
not  unfrequently  defied  at  once  all  faith  and  all  con- 
trol, and  rushed  from  the  absurdities  of  superstition  and 
abject  submission  to  the  still  greater  absurdities  of 
atheism    and    anarchy.     They,   however,   brave   the 


OPERATION    OP    INSTINCTS.  71 

roar  of  the  cataract,  only  to  sink  in  the  abyss  of  a  more 
hideous  and  pestilential  fanaticism.  They  should  sail 
upstream  instead  of  down ;  but  this  implies  labor  and 
restraint,  from  which  they  shrink,  because  they  see  it. 
But  what  lies  below  the  rapids  is  unseen,  until  it  is  ex- 
perienced. 

The  operation  of  these  inevitable  causes  has,  in  all 
ages,  divided  the  majority  of  mankind  into  two  general 
classes,  so  far  as  their  religious  history  is  concerned. 
A  small  class,  who,  from  the  desire  of  political  or  spiri- 
tual powor,  have  aspired  to  teach,  and  a  large  class, 
whose  only  business  it  has  been  to  believe.  "  The 
knaves  said  so,  and  the  fools  believed  them."  These 
nine  words  exhibit  an  epitome  of  the  religious  history 
of  the  majority  of  our  race,  atheists,  deists,  and  all,  ex- 
cept the  very  few  who  have  honestly  yielded  to  the 
law  of  nature  and  of  God.  Here  is  the  grand  arena 
on  which  knaves  have  piped  and  fools  have  danced, 
throughout  all  generations. 

From  among  those  whom  we  have  here  dignified 
with  the  name  of  teachers,  we  do  not  exclude  the  self- 
styled  philosophical  atheist.  Nor  do  we  include  those 
who  teach  any  form  of  rational  or  true  religion ;  nor 
yet  any  of  those  multitudinous  fanatics  and  lunatics, 
who  either  originate  absurd  notions,  from  insanity,  or 
receive  them,  second  hand,  from  adroit  villains,  and 
propagate  them  from  sheer  credulity.  These  either 
fall  in  regular  order  among  the  marshalled  dupes  of  the 
craft,  or  form  an  eccentric  platoon  of  maniacs  in  the 
rear.  In  the  ranks  of  imposture,  we  place  only  the 
ambitious  and  selfish  originators  of  absurd  dogmas  of 
either  superstition  or  skepticism.  Some  of  these  have 
sought  political  power,  like  Mohammed.     Others  have 


72  OPERATION    OF    INSTINCTS. 

aspired  to  spiritual  rule,  like  the  autocrats  of  India  and 
of  Rome.  Others  have  aimed  at  intellectual  and  so- 
cial elevation  or  literary  fame,  like  the  French  atheists. 
Others  are  looking  at  social  elevation,  through  ecclesi- 
astical or  spiritual  sway,  as  many  among  the  shoals 
of  ambitious  sectarians,  reformers,  and  system-mongers 
of  modern  Christendom.  Now  all  these,  of  course, 
profess  the  purest  motives.  We  cannot  believe  them ; 
the  world  has  lived  too  long.  Our  charity  may  force 
our  incredulity  to  admit,  that,  in  many  cases,  they  them- 
selves are  not  fully  conscious  of  the  strength  of  the  self- 
ish motives  which  urge  them  onward.  This  is  the 
best  opinion  we  can  form  of  them,  till  the  world  lives 
its  life  over  again,  or  we  get  a  new  revelation  from 
heaven. 

These  three  causes,  the  necessity  of  faith,  the  aver- 
sion to  restraint  in  the  many,  and  the  love  of  power  in 
the  few,  have  conspired  to  make  the  religious  history 
of  the  mass  of  mankind  a  history  of  credulity  and  in- 
fatuation. Mormonism  is  not  an  exception  to  the  gen- 
eral rule.  It  is  but  one  of  the  many  hideous  errors 
imposed,  by  the  lust  of  power,  on  the  credulity  of  the 
multitude. 

In  all  ages  of  the  world  the  majority  of  mankind, 
both  in  Christian  and  heathen  lands,  have  been  ready  to 
believe  any  thing  in  religion,  however  absurd,  provided 
it  was  both  false  and  absurd,  and  proffered  eternal  hap- 
piness, or  at  least  eternal  exemption  from  merited  pun- 
ishment, as  the  reward  of  belief,  without  the  pain  and 
trouble  of  a  thorough  moral  reformation. 

Melancholy  and  degrading  as  this  picture  is,  it  is  the 
true  picture  of  human  nature  and  human  society.  Be- 
ginning from  our  great  progenitor  and  descending  to 


GENERAL  CREDULITY  AND  FANATICISM  OF  MAN.    73 

our  own  times,  throughout  the  long  track  of  five  thou- 
sand years,  in  the  religious  history  of  our  world,  we 
traverse  an  immense  swamp  of  credulity  and  lies. 
With  the  exception  of  the  few  spots  which  have  been 
reclaimed  and  fertilized  by  the  genial  influences  of 
Christianity,  uncorrupted,  we  see  nothing  but  darkness, 
desolation,  and  death ;  we  hear  nothing  but  the  boast- 
ings of  hypocrites  and  the  creaking  of  their  torturing 
engines  of  cruelty,  followed  by  the  sighs,  and  groans, 
and  mortal  agonies  of  unnumbered  millions  of  poor  de- 
luded dirpes,  or  of  martyrs  to  the  true  faith  of  the 
gospel. 

If  perchance  a  ray  of  light  divine  flit  athwart  the 
scene,  it  is  only  to  make  us  more  sensible  of  the  dark- 
ness which  envelops  us,  and  to  reveal,  for  a  moment, 
more  clearly  the  horrid  and  detested  phantoms  that 
hover  about  our  path. 

Through  the  whole  line  of  our  march,  the  only  ver- 
dant spot  we  meet  is  found  "  fast  by  the  oracles  of  God," 
and  the  only  solitary  being  in  human  shape,  who  can 
for  a  moment  challenge  our  faith  on  his  own  responsi- 
bility, is  Jesus  of  Nazareth  ;  and  even  his  divine  words 
had  scarce  fallen  from  his  lips,  before  these  same  de- 
moniac principles  were  again  inciting  men,  with  more 
than  satanic  skill,  to  distort,  pervert,  and  corrupt  them ; 
and  again  the  darkness  and  the  terrors  close  around  us. 
Even  while  the  chosen  and  inspired  Paul  lived,  this 
"  mystery  of  iniquity"  was  already  at  work. 

In  proof  of  these  positions,  we  need  not  stop  to  sur- 
vey the  splendid  temples,  the  lying  oracles,  the  besotted 
priests,  the  sacrificial  pomp,  the  polluted  and  Baccha- 
nalian worship  of  the  detestable  gods  of  the  philosophic 
Greeks,  or  of  the  grave  and  invincible  Romans,  or  the 
4 


74        GENERAL  CREDULITY  AND  FANATICISM  OP  MATT. 

multitudinous  similar  faiths,  which  infested  the  globe 
before  the  coming  of  Christ. 

Nor  need  we  contemplate  the  hundreds  of  millions 
of  pagan  lands  in  our  own  day,  with  their  sacrificial 
cars,  crushing  or  crippling  thousands  as  they  move 
along,  their  rivers  swollen  with  the  bodies  of  the  dead, 
or  re-echoing  with  the  groans  of  the  dying  ;  age,  help- 
less and  tottering,  either  left  to  starve  in  solitude,  or 
hurried  away  to  the  altars  of  their  truculent  gods  ;  in- 
fants, writhing  in  the  death-grasp  of  a  mother's  hand  ; 
mothers,  shrinking  in  wild  and  frantic  despair  from  the 
burning  funeral  pile — fathers,  mothers,  brothers,  and 
sisters  gathering  around  the  direful  scene,  and  vainly 
attempting  to  drown  the  agonies  of  their  victim  with 
tumultuous  and  triumphant  shouts  !  The  dead  and 
dying  forgotten  or  despised,  the  living  tortured  with 
the  consciousness  of  what  is,  and  agonized  with  the 
fear  of  what  is  to  come  ;  crushed  beneath  the  tyranny 
of  the  present  hour,  and  expecting  an  aggravation  of 
their  woes  in  the  next.  Heartless,  soulless,  homeless, 
and  undone,  they  still  cling  to  the  creed  which  engen- 
dered, and  the  faith  which  fosters  their  woes,  because 
ambitious  knaves  so  teach,  and  they  obediently  and  de- 
voutly believe.  Yet  this  is  the  boasted  religion  of  na- 
ture, and  the  freedom  of  nature,  when  nature  is  left 
free  and  untrammelled  to  work  its  own  cure. 

But  we  pass  on  to  the  Jnstory  of  revealed  religion. 
We  pause  neither  upon  the  ceaseless  rebellions,  revolts, 
and  apostacies  of  the  Jews,  nor  upon  that  awful  and 
final  catastrophe  of  their  fate,  when  mothers  sliced  and 
ate  their  young,  and  Titus  floated  their  devoted  walls 
and  temple  in  blood.  We  will  not  dwell  upon  the  cru- 
sades, nor  upon  the  Mohammedan  delusion,  originating 


GENERAL  CREDULITY  AND  FANATICISM  OF  MAN.        75 

in  slaughter,  and  pregnant  with  lies  more  incredible 
than  ordinary  powers  can  imagine  or  conceive  of;  nor 
yet  upon  that  hideous,  that  immense,  that  most  terrific 
perversion  of  the  mild  and  beneficent  religion  of  Jesus, 
which  under  the  Papacy  held  the  human  race,  through 
twelve  long  centuries  of  agony  and  despair,  in  the  very 
crucible  of  tyranny,  and  extorted  from  them  the  last 
pang,  the  last  groan,  of  which  human  nature  and  hu- 
man endurance  is  capable. 

We  will  pass  by  all  these  cases,  though  in  themselves 
they  comprise  the  history  of  the  vast  majority  of  the 
human  race  throughout  the  world.  Still,  it  may  be 
said,  that  all  these  monstrous  absurdities  sprung  up 
amid  surrounding  darkness,  and  held  their  despotic 
sway  from  the  peculiarity  of  the  ages  in  which  they 
originated  ;  that  they  engrossed  to  themselves  the  pub- 
lic sentiment  of  large  portions  of  the  globe,  instead  of 
hanging,  as  Mormonism  does,  as  a  mere  local  and  loath- 
some excrescence  on  the  surface  of  a  more  healthful 
and  vigorous  body  politic.  And  although  this  does  not 
relieve  the  matter,  still  we  will  pass  on  to  look  only  at 
those  temporary  and  local  impostures,  which  have 
sprung  up  in  eras  and  under  circumstances  in  which 
such  infatuations  might  have  been  deemed  entirely  im- 
practicable. 

And  first,  the  world  has  witnessed,  since  the  coming 
of  Christ,  more  than  twenty  false  Messiahs  or  pretended 
Christs,  who  have  obtained  sufficient  notoriety  to  live 
on  the  pages  of  history,  besides  shoals  of  similar  pre- 
tenders, whose  memory  has  rotted  with  their  bones. 
We  will  briefly  note,  as  specimens,  a  few  of  those  whose 
memory  still  survives. 

The  first  one  of  much  note  was  one  Caziba,  who 


76  FALSE    MESSIAHS. 

lived  in  the  second  century.  The  Jews  acknowledge 
that  they  lost  between  five  and  six  hundred  thousand 
souls,  in  fighting  against  the  Romans  in  defence  of  this 
pretender.  Here  is  human  credulity.  When  the  true 
Messiah  came,  and  fulfilled  all  their  own  sacred  proph- 
ecies before  their  own  eyes,  and  wrought  wonders  and 
gave  signs  from  heaven  above  and  earth  beneath,  they 
crucified  him.  Why  ?  Because  they  hated  the  restraints 
of  true  religion.  Again,  when  a  few  years  after  an 
impostor  arises,  without  a  solitary  proof  of  either  au- 
thority or  virtue,  they  rally  around  him,  and  pour  out 
their  blood  like  water  in  his  defence.  Why  ?  They 
loved  to  indulge  in  the  false  hopes  of  a  false  and  pre- 
posterous faith.  This  is  human  nature  in  all  ages  and 
climes. 

In  434,  another  pretender  arose,  called  Moses,  who 
persuaded  the  Jews  in  the  island  of  Crete  to  abandon 
their  houses  and  lands,  and  to  assemble  on  a  given  day 
on  a  rock  overhanging  the  sea,  from  which  they  were 
to  cast  themselves  into  the  deep,  that  he  might  conduct 
them  in  safety  (Joe  Smith  like)  to  their  promised  land, 
the  Mount  Zion  of  old.  Multitudes  came,  and  men, 
women,  and  children,  without  the  least  hesitation,  threw 
themselves  headlong  into  the  sea,  until  at  last  so  great 
a  number  were  drowned  as  to  open  the  eyes  of  the  rest. 

In  529,  another  by  the  name  of  Julian  appeared, 
who,  after  an  immense  slaughter  of  his  followers,  was 
taken  and  put  to  death  by  the  Emperor  Justinian. 

In  11 57,  another  arose  in  Spain,  under  whose  guidance 
almost  all  the  Jews  in  that  kingdom  surrendered  them- 
selves to  utter  extermination. 

In  11G7,  another  arose  in  Arabia,  who  pretended  that 
if  he  should  be  beheaded,  he  should  come  to  life  again. 


FALSE    MESSIAHS.  77 

The  Arabian  king  took  him  at  his  word,  and  ended  the 
delusion  by  taking  off  his  head. 

In  1199,  another  arose  in  Persia,  called  David  El 
David.  Vast  numbers  of  the  Jews  were  butchered  for 
following  this  impostor.  The  twelfth  century,  alone, 
produced  no  less  than  ten  of  these  false  Christs,  who 
brought  prodigious  calamities  upon  the  Jews,  in  various 
parts  of  the  world  ;  and  though  their  names  may  be 
forgotten,  their  deeds  of  infamy  will  still  live. 

In  1666,  immediately  after  the  dreadful  massacre  of 
the  Jews  in  Persia,  Sabbatai  Levi  appeared  in  Smyrna, 
a  man  of  learning,  and  an  impostor  of  surpassing  skill 
among  the  Jews.  They  flocked  around  him  in  multi- 
tudes, and  styled  him  "  Tlie  King,  our  King  and  Lord, 
the  man  elevated  to  the  height  of  all  sublimity,  the  Mes- 
sias  of  the  God  of  Jacob,  the  true  Messiah,  the  celestial 
Zion,  Sabbatai  Levi"  He  promised  them  deliverance 
from  captivity,  and,  to  hasten  and  ensure  the  day,  they 
gave  themselves  up  to  all  kinds  of  religious  austerities 
and  enthusiasms.  Some  starved  themselves  by  fasting, 
others  buried  themselves  in  the  earth,  until  their  limbs 
grew  stiff  and  useless  ;  some  dropped  melted  wax  upon 
their  flesh  ;  some  rolled  naked  in  the  snow,  until  frozen ; 
others  immersed  themselves  in  cold  water,  in  winter  ; 
and  others,  still,  burned  themselves  alive.  Many  of  his 
followers  fell  into  strange  ecstacies,  and  fits  of  prophe- 
sying. Four  hundred  men  and  women  predicted  his 
growing  kingdom,  and  even  infants,  before  they  could 
talk,  pronounced  him  the  "  Messiah,  the  Son  of  God." 
The  people  heard  voices  from  their  bowels,  fell  into 
trances,  foamed  at  the  mouth,  and  predicted  the  coming 
triumphs  of  their  Messiah.  When  brought  before  the 
Cadi,  or  justice  of  the  peace,  they  saw  a  pillar  of  fire 


78  PECULIAR    FANATICISMS. 

between  him  and  that  functionary.  The  grand  seignior 
finally  ordered  him  before  him.  The  Jews  believed  that 
the  messengers  and  janisaries,  sent  to^  escort  him,  all 
fell  dead,  and  were  restored  at  the  word  of  his  mouth, 
Though  barred,  bolted,  and  chained  in  prison,  they  fan- 
cied that  they  saw  him  daily  walking  the  streets,  with 
chains  of  gold  about  his  limbs.  Finally,  the  grand 
seignior  gave  him  his  choice,  either  to  stand  as  a  target 
for  his  archers,  or  to  turn  Mohammedan ;  he  wisely 
chose  the  latter.  But  still,  the  Jews  insisted  that  it  was 
not  their  Messiah,  but  only  his  shadow  or  spirit,  which 
they  saw  walking  the  streets,  in  the  garb,  and  with  the 
beard  of  a  Mussulman,  and  that  God  had  taken  his  body 
to  heaven,  and  would  again  return  him  in  his  own  due 
time. 

These  few  will  serve  as  specimens  of  the  whole.  It 
is  worthy  of  remark,  that  all  these,  and  scores  of  others, 
pretended,  as  Smith  and  Co.  now  do,  that  they  were 
raised  up  of  God  to  fulfil  the  ancient  prophecies,  and 
restore  the  Jews  to  their  promised  land.  Like  Smith 
and  Co.,  they  based  their  claims  on  a  literal  interpreta- 
tion of  prophecy,  found  manifold  texts  as  explicit  as  the 
Mormon  wall,  the  stick  of  Ephraim,  the  flying  angel, 
&c,  &c,  are  now  in  favor  of  the  Mormons.  They 
added  miracles  and  prodigies,  wherever  they  were 
wanted,  and  found  dupes  enough  to  believe  and  run 
after  them,  and  sacrifice  all  earthly  good  to  their  pre- 
posterous claims,  as  the  Mormons  now  do  to  the  claims 
of  Smith. 

The  Serpentinians,  or  Ophites,  arose  in  the  second 
century.  They  were  so  called  because  they  believed 
that  the  serpent,  spoken  of  in  Genesis,  who  taught  man- 
kind "  good  and  evil,"  was  Jesus  Christ.     Hence  they 


PARTICULAR    FANATICISMS.  79 

worshipped  the  live  serpent,  which  they  kept  in  a  kind 
of  cage.  Before  their  sacrament,  they  opened  the  cage 
door,  and  made^  the  serpent  crawl  out,  mount  upon  a 
table,  and  twine  himself  about  the  loaves  of  bread, 
which  they  used  for  the  sacrament. 

The  Millenarians  arose  under  one Carpocrates, sixty 
years  after  Christ.  They  increased  rapidly  after  the 
council  of  Nice,  in  the  year  340,  and  their  doctrines 
have  been  caught  up,  and  reiterated  by  almost  every 
fanatical  sect  which  has  appeared  since.  They  be- 
lieved that  Christ  would  literally  reign  on  earth  a  thou- 
sand years.  Hence  their  name.  All  who  have  part  in 
the  first  resurrection,  were  to  reign  with  him  ;  Jerusa- 
lem" was  to  be  gloriously  rebuilt ;  the  saints  were  to  see 
Christ  descend  from  heaven  to  the  new  Jerusalem,  to 
reign  with  patriarchs,  prophets,  and  saints,  in  perfect  bliss, 
for  a  thousand  years.  Then  they  were  to  ascend  with 
Christ  to  heaven,  to  enjoy  forever  the  second  resurrection. 
At  the  first  resurrection,  there  was  to  be  a  great  destruc- 
tion among  all  nations  ;  at  the  second,  the  wicked  and 
the  saints  were  to  pass  into  their  final  state  of  retribu- 
tion. Others  since  have  modified  these  doctrines  some- 
what, to  suit  the  prejudices  of  their  age,  but  all  proceed 
alike,  upon  what  they  call  a  literal  interpretation  of  the 
twentieth  chapter  of  Revelations,  and  similar  passages. 

The  Circoncelliones  arose  in  the  beginning  of  the 
fourth  century,  among  the  Donatists  in  Africa.  They 
renounced  labor,  professed  continence,  and  wandered 
in  hordes,  with  loose  women,  about  the  country,  as  the 
professed  "vindicators  of  justice,  and  protectors  of  the 
oppressed:'  They  at  first  went  armed  with  clubs,  which 
they  called  "  Clubs  of  Israel,"  and  which  they  handled 
with  such  cruel  skill  as  to  break  the  bones  of  their 


80  PARTICULAR    FANATICISMS. 

victims  without  killing  them,  and  then  left  them  to  die  a 
languishing  and  protracted  death.  They  took  life  at 
once,  only  as  a  favor.  They  sometimes  filled  the  eyes 
of  the  wretches  whom  they  had  crushed  with  blows, 
with  lime  and  vinegar,  and  thus  left  them  to  their 
torments.  The  dissolute  women,  who  accompanied 
them  in  their  brutal  debaucheries,  they  called  the 
"  Sacred  Virgins,"  and  their  chief  was  named  "  Chief 
of  the  Saints."  In  their  onset  upon  their  defenceless 
victims,  they  shouted  "  Praise  be  to  God  !"  a  signal  of 
slaughter  more  terrible  than  the  roaring  of  the  lion. 
After  having  glutted  themselves  with  blood,  they  turned 
their  rage  upon  themselves,  and  sought  the  death  of 
martyrs  with  the  same  fury  with  which  they  dispensed 
the  death  of  heresy  to  others.  They  raged  only  against 
those  whom  they  deemed  heretics.  These  deluded 
people  only  "  contended  earnestly  for  the  faith  once  de- 
livered to  the  saints,"  as  they  maintained  ! !  They  con- 
tinued their  ravages  in  Africa  through  half  a  century,  and 
were  finally  crushed  only  by  the  civil  power  of  Rome. 

The  fanatical  sect  called  the  Stylites,  or  Pillar 
Saints,  originated  with  Peter  the  Stylite,  in  the  fifth 
century.  In  order  to  be  nearer  heaven,  this  fanatic 
spent  a  great  part  of  his  life  on  the  tops  of  different 
pillars,  the  last  of  which  was  forty  cubits,  or  about  sixty 
feet,  in  height,  and  but  three  feet  in  diameter  at  the  top, 
with  a  slight  balustrade  around  the  edge.  Here  he 
remained,  day  and  night,  in  all  weathers, for  thirty-seven 
years,  devoting  himself  to  prayers,  fastings,  prostrations, 
and  haranguing  and  healing  the  multitude  who  thronged 
around  him. 

He  finally  died  in  prayer  on  the  top  of  his  pillar,  in 
the  sixty-ninth  year  of  his  age.'    So  precious  an  exam- 


PARTICULAR    FANATICISMS.  81 

pie  human  vanity,  fanaticism,  and  folly,  could  not,  of 
course,  fail  to  improve.  Multitudes  inherited  his  faith, 
and  from  imitating  his  example,  so  far  as  they  were 
able,  they  have  been  called  Stylites  or  Pillar  Saints. 

In  the  year  one  thousand,  a  man  named  Leutard,  in 
the  village  of  Voitres,  in  the  diocese  of  Chalons,  pre- 
tended to  be  a  prophet,  and  deceived  many.  He  af- 
firmed that  one  day,  while  lying  down  in  the  field,  a 
great  swarm  of  bees  entered  the  lower  part  of  his 
body,  passed  with  a  great  buzzing  out  at  his  mouth, 
and  after  stinging  him  severely,  communicated  to  him 
some  supernatural  instruction  for  the  edification  of  the 
church.  The  silly  multitude,  as  usual,  ran  after  him 
until  his  hypocrisy  was  detected  by  the  bishop,  and 
then  the  maniac  prophet  drowned  himself  in  a  well. 

In  1148,  another  lunatic  appeared  in  Brittagne,  by 
the  name  of  Eon,  who  believed  that  he  was  the  judge 
of  the  quick  and  the  dead.  He  was  at  last  thrown  by 
the  Catholic  church  into  prison,  where  he  died.  But 
his  followers,  not  convinced  even  by  his  death,  still 
persisted  in  their  delusion,  and  numbers  died  at  the 
stake,  in  attestation  of  the  sincerity  of  their  faith.  The 
Mormons,  we  are  told,  as  well  as  many  others,  have 
laid  down  their  lives  in  the  same  way. 

In  the  thirteenth  century  the  Beghards,  or  Brethren 
and  Sisters  of  the  Free  Spirit,  arose  and  spread  over 
Italy,  France,  and  Germany.  They  were  also  called 
Turlupins. 

They  held,  as  some  affirm,  that,  by  protracted,  un- 
natural effort  at  religious  contemplation,  men  could  di- 
vest themselves  of  the  instincts  of  nature;  a  favorite  dog- 
ma among  enthusiasts  of  all  ages,  in  some  form  or  other. 

They  professed  to  live  without  anv  other  rule  than 


82  PARTICULAR    FANATICISMS, 

simply  to  follow  the  leadings  of  the  Spirit.  And  since 
the  excitement  of  any  libidinous  desire,  or  any  sense  of 
modesty  or  shame  indicated  that  they  were  still  very 
far  from  God,  in  order  to  accustom  themselves  to  habits 
of  indifference  and  self-denial,  they  not  only  lodged 
promiscuously,  but  held  their  principal  religious  meet- 
ings in  a  state  of  perfect  nudity,  male  and  female. 
And  yet  so  great  was  the  strength  of  their  religious 
hallucination,  that  they  are  said  for  many  years  to  have 
been  chaste  and  devout. 

Neither  popes,  nor  cardinals,  nor  anathemas,  nor 
bulls,  nor  fagots,  could  arrest  the  rapid  spread  of  this 
fanatical  sect.  In  attestation  of  the  sincerity  of  their 
faith,  multitudes  of  these,  too,  surrendered  all  earthly 
hope,  and  expired  cheerfully,  and  calmly,  amid  the 
flames  or  upon  the  rack.  Some  think  their  follies  are 
exaggerated,  as  perhaps  they  are ;  and  if  they  stood 
alone  it  would  be  rational,  as  well  as  charitable,  to  ad- 
mit it.* 

In  the  year  1281,  Wilhemina,  a  delirious  Bohemian 
woman,  died  at  Milan.  She  first  seems  to  have  per- 
suaded herself,  and  then  others,  that  the  Holy  Spirit 
had  assumed  human  nature  in  her  person,  in  order, 
through  her,  to  save  the  Jews,  Saracens,  and  false 
Christians  ;  and  she  imagined  that  she  was  destined  to 
suffer  on  the  cross  for  them,  as  Christ  had  done  for  real 
Christians.  After  her  death  and  burial,  her  numerous 
followers  still  believed,  and  not  a  few  of  these  also 
perished  in  the  flames,  in  attestation  of  their  sin- 
cerity.f 

In  the  fourteenth  century,  the  Quietists,  or  Navel 

*  Mosheim,  Vol.  II.,  pages  409,  480,  540.  t  Ibid.,  p.  412. 


Particular  fanaticisms.  83 

Souls,  appeared  in  the  South,  first  at  Mount  Athos,  in 
Greece. 

They  seated  themselves  daily  in  some  retired  cor- 
ner and  fixed  their  eyes  steadfastly  upon  their  navels, 
until  a  wonderful  divine  illumination  beamed  forth  upon 
them,  and  diffused  through  their  souls  peculiar  delight. 
By  this  process  they  imagined  that  they  acquired  pe- 
culiar insight  into  the  spiritual  world,  saw  God  himself 
with  their  bodily  eyes,  and  other  things  equally  strange 
and  unutterable. 

In  the  seventeenth  century,  Molinos,  a  Spanish 
priest,  and  Madame  Guyon,  in  France,  revived  many 
of  their  notions,  and  spread  them  over  Italy,  Spain, 
France,  and  the  Netherlands.*  Emperors,  popes, 
monks,  and  cardinals  discussed  the  merits  of  this 
mighty  wonder  in  successive  solemn  councils.  They 
finally  concluded  that  such  a  divine -illumination  was 
in  accordance  with  the  Scriptures  and  the  dogmas  of 
the  church.  The  poor  monks  being  thus  allowed  to 
look  at  their  navels,  without  roasting  for  it,  they  soon 
became  tired  of  it,  and  concluded  that  they  could  see 
as  well  by  looking  some  other  way. 

About  the  year  1260,  a  sect  called  the  Flagellants 
arose  in  Italy,  under  one  Rainer,  a  hermit,  and  was  prop- 
agated throughout  almost  all  Europe.  A  great  number 
of  persons,  of  all  ages  and  sexes,  walked  two  and  two 
in  solemn  procession,  whipping  their  bare  shoulders 
until  the  blood  ran  down  to  their  heels,  in  order  to  ob- 
tain mercy  from  God  by  mortifying  the  flesh. 

They  substituted  these  cruel  lacerations  for  all  other 
religious  duties  and  privileges,. not  excepting  even  bap- 
tism and  the  Lord's  Supper.     This  displeased  the  Pa- 

*  Mosheim,  Vol.  II.,  page  476. 


84  PARTICULAR    FANATICISMS. 

pists,  who  tried  in  vain  to-  suppress  their  spread  by 
substituting  burning  for  scourging.  They  continued  to 
spread  for  two  hundred  years. 

The  Merry  Dancers  appeared  in  the  Belgic  provin- 
ces, and  spread,  alongside  of  these  Whippers,  in  the 
year  1373.  Instead  of  scourging  their  backs,  or  look- 
ing at  their  navels  in  quiet  seclusion,  they  ran  from 
house  to  house  and  danced  with  all  their  might,  until 
they  fell  exhausted,  and  thus  saw  wonderful  sights  and 
visions.* 

In  1760,  a  kindred  sect  of  Jumpers  arose  in  Wales, 
who  substituted  jumping  for  dancing,  with  shouts  of 
glory,  amen,  &c.  These  several  receipts  of  the  Qui- 
etists,  Flagellants  Dancers,  Jumpers,  &c.,  for  obtain- 
ing the  influences  of  the  Spirit,  all  succeeded  equally 
well,  so  long  as  faith  was  ardent  and  persecution  se- 
vere. 

In  1411,  another  sect  arose,  called  Men  of  Under- 
standing, headed  by  an  ignorant  fellow  by  the  name 
of  Cautor.  They  denied  that  any  one  could  understand 
the  Scriptures  without  peculiar  divine  illumination,  as 
many  of  the  Mormons  now  do.  They  pretended  to 
have  divine  visions,  and  promised  a  better  and  more 
perfect  revelation  of  the  will  of  God  than  the  Scrip- 
tures ;  which  we  doubtless  realize  in  the  Book  of  Mor- 
mon. 

In  1G91,  Rosamond  Juliana,  a  noble  lady  of  Asse- 
burgh,  was  favored  with  divine  visions,  saw  and  con- 
versed with  God  himself,  and  reported  commands  from 
him.  She  also  proclaimed  the  Mormon  doctrine  of 
Christ's  literal  reign,  for  1000  years,  on  earth,  and  the 
final  restoration  of  all  things,  on  the  direct  authority  of 

>    .Uoshehn,  Vol.  II..  page  481. 


PARTICULAR    FANATICISMS.  85 

God.  Many  received  and-' promulgated  her  opinions, 
but  nevertheless  their  expected  Millenium  did  not 
come,  as  predicted.* 

In  1525,  a  sect  called  the  Anabaptists  arose  in  Ger- 
many, amid  the  turmoil  of  Luther's  reformation.  They 
were  headed  for  a  time  by  one  Thomas  Munster,  the 
Joe  Smith  of  the  clan,  himself  at  once  their  prophet 
and  general.  They  pretended  to  be  the  peculiar  favor- 
ites of  heaven,  the  chosen  instruments  of  God  to  effect 
the  millenium  reign  of  Christ  on  earth.  They  believed 
that  they  had  familiar  personal  intercourse  with  God, 
that  they  were  on  an  equal  footing  with  the  prophets 
and  apostles  of  old,  and  were  armed  against  all  oppo- 
sition by  the  power  of  working  miracles.  Their  pre- 
tended visions,  miracles,  and  prophecies  soon  kindled 
the  flame  of  fanaticism  in  the  minds  of  the  peasants, 
and  excited  great  commotion  and  consternation  through- 
out Europe.  Their  prophet  finally  appealed  to  the 
sword,  under  the  absurd  pretence  that  Christ  was  about 
to  assert  his  millenium  reign  on  earth,  by  force  of  arms. 
About  five  thousand  of  them  were  slain  in  battle,  the 
rest  routed,  and  their  leader  put  to  death. 

In  1532,  John  Matthias  assumed  the  command  of  these 
fanatics,  and  ordered  them  to  assemble  at  the  town  of 
Munster,  which  was  declared  to  be  the  "  Mount  Zion 
of  God"  by  express  revelation,  where  the  saints  were 
to  assemble  and  reign,  in  Mormon  glory,  over  the  kings 
of  the  earth  forever.  They  were  finally  besieged  by 
the  civil  authorities,  and  after  a  terrible  havoc,  in  which 
the  saints  lost  over  one  hundred  thousand  lives,  "Mount 
Zion"  was  taken,  and  the  Joe  Smith  of  the  day  put  to 
death. 

*  IVIosheim,  Vol.  III.,  page  441. 


86  PARTICULAR    FANATICISMS* 

In  the  same  year,  1525,  David  George,  a  native  of 
Delft,  proclaimed  himself  the  true  Messiah,  and  de- 
clared that  he  was  sent  by  God  to  the  earth  again,  to 
fill  heaven  with  people,  which  he  said  was  quite 
empty,  for  want  of  people  to  deserve  it.  He  declared 
the  doctrines  of  scripture  insufficient,  without  his  addi- 
tions. At  his  death  he  promised  his  disciples  that  he 
would  rise  again  at  the  end  of  three  years.  This  pre- 
diction proved  true  ;  for,  at  the  appointed  time,  the  ma- 
gistrates ordered  him  dug  up  and  burnt  by  the  common 
hangman.  This  unexpected  mode  of  resurrection  some- 
what puzzled  his  disciples,  who  took  the  name  of  Da- 
vidists  from  their  leader.     He  died  in  1556. 

About  the  year  1540,  Ignatius  Loyola,  the  founder 
of  the  Jesuits,  pretended  to  peculiar  favor  and  intima- 
cy with  heaven.  During  this  same  period  also,  the  Ef- 
f routes  made  their  appearance,  a  fanatical  sect,  who 
scraped  their  foreheads  with  a  knife  until  they  bled, 
and  then  poured  oil  into  the  wound,  instead  of  baptism. 

In  1575,  immediately  after  the  dreadful  massacre  of 
St.  Bartholomew,  a  new  sect  of  mystics  appeared  in 
Spain,  and  spread  over  France,  under  one  Anthony 
Buckuet.  They  called  themselves  Illuminati,  and 
held  in  substance  to  the  doctrines  of  the  ancient  Quiet- 
ists.  They  taught  that  none  of  the  doctors  of  the 
church  knew  any  thing  about  religion ;  that  Paul  and 
Peter  were  well-meaning  men,  but  knew  nothing  of 
devotion ;  that  the  whole  church  lay  in  darkness  and 
unbelief,  and  that  in  ten  years  their  creed  would  be  re- 
ceived all  over  the  world. 

In  the  year  1616,  Antoinette  Bourignon  was  born 
in  Lisle,  in  France,  and  proclaimed  her  doctrines  as 
the  climax  of  illuminism.     At  her  birth,  she  was  so  de- 


PARTICULAR    FANATICISMS.  87 

formed  that  it  was  debated  whether  it  was  not  proper 
to  stifle  her  as  a  monster.  Nevertheless,  in  after  life 
she  travelled  through*  France,  England,  Scotland,  and 
Holland ;  and  by  pretending  to  divine  inspiration,  she 
found  plenty  of  admirers,  and  founded  a  sect  which 
bore  her  name. 

Cotemporaneous  with  Madam  Bourignon,  Bertrand 
Knipperdoling  founded  the  sect  of  Knipperdolings. 
He  taught,  as  Smith  now  does,  that  the  saints  who  fol- 
lowed him  were  to  have  a  monarchy  on  earth ;  that 
the  wicked  would  be  destroyed  ;  that  infants  ought  not 
to  be  baptized  ;  that  immersion  was  the  only  mode  of 
baptism,  &c,  &c. 

In  1641,  the  Irish  rebellion  broke  out:  the  massacre 
of  the  Protestants,  and  civil  war  in  England,  completed 
the  consternation  of  the  people,  and  shot  up  a  new 
crop  of  fanatics  in  that  realm. 

In  1645,  the  Seekers  arose.  They  taught,  like  the 
Mormons,  that  the  Scriptures  were  mutilated  and  de- 
fective ;  that  the  true  church,  its  ministry,  and  ordi- 
nances, were  lost ;  that  the  present  ministry  was  with- 
out authority,  and  that  miracles  are  in  all  ages  indis- 
pensable to  faith.  They  were  subject  to  prophetic  im- 
pulses, and  ran  through  towns  and  villages,  declaiming 
and  prophesying  against  ordinary  modes  of  worship. 
Females  performed  a  distinguished  part  in  these  ex- 
cesses. One  of  them  went  into  Whitehall  Chapel  in 
time  of  service,  and  in  presence  of  Cromwell,  in  a  state 
of  nudity,  having  been  moved  by  the  Spirit,  as  she  said, 
to  appear  as  a  sign  unto  the  people. 

Soon  after,  in  1653,  the  Muggletonians  appeared, 
headed  by  one  Muggleton,  a  journeyman  tailor,  and  an 
ignorant  man  by  the  name  of  Reeves.     They  gave  out 


88  PARTICULAR    FANATICISMS. 

that  they  were  the  two  last  witnesses  spoken  of  in  Rev- 
elations. They  denounced  the  "  ministry  of  the  churches 
as  a  lie  and  an  abomination  unto  the  Lord,"  declared 
that  they  were  great  prophets,  had  power  to  work  mir- 
acles, absolve  sins,  &c,  &c. 

The  terrible  persecutions  which  attended  the  revo- 
cation of  the  edict  of  Nantes,  in  1685,  were  accompa- 
nied with  another  shoal  of  fanaticisms  on  the  continent 
of  Europe. 

Three  years  after,  in  1688,  the  Camisards,  or  French 
prophets,  appeared.  In  Dauphiny  and  Vivarais,  in 
France,  five  or  six  hundred  of  both  sexes  gave  out  that 
they  were  prophets,  inspired  of  the  Holy  Ghost.  Their 
number  soon  increased  to  thousands,  and  though  of  all 
ages  and  sexes,  they  were  mostly  boys  and  girls  from 
fifteen  to  twenty-five  years  of  age.  They  had  strange 
fits  of  trembling,  fainting,  and  swooning.  They  fell 
on  their  backs,  shut  their  eyes,  saw  heaven  opened, 
the  angels,  paradise,  and  hell.  They  dropped  down 
thus,  not  only  in  popular  assemblies  among  thousands, 
but  also  in  the  fields  alone  they  fell,  and  made  the  hills 
resound  again  with  their  cries  for  mercy,  imprecations 
on  the  prevailing  sects,  and  predictions  of  the  near  ap- 
proach of  the  day  of  millenium  glory.  Then,  New  Je- 
rusalem, the  marriage  of  the  Lamb,  the  reign  of  the 
Messiah,  and  acceptable  year  of  the  Lord,  was  of 
course  to  be  ushered  in  by  a  deluge  of  judgments : — 
sword,  fire,  famines,  earthquakes,  plagues,  and  wars, 
were  all  piously  reserved  for  the  benefit  of  their  ene- 
mies ;  while  the  one  faith,  one  baptism,  one  Lord,  and 
one  eternal  reign  of  Mormon  glory,  was  to  be  their  own 
peculiar  inheritance.  They  pretended  not  only  to  the 
gift  of  prophecy,  but  also  to  the  gift  of  tongues,  of  mir- 


PARTICULAR    FANATICISMS.  89 

acles,  and  of  healing,  of  discerning  spirits  and  the  se- 
crets of  the  heart,  and  to  the  Mormon  power  of  con- 
ferring all  these  by  the  laying  on  of  hands.  They  were 
brought  to  the  fullest  conviction  of  the  reality  and  truth 
of  all  their  pretensions,  by  the  internal  voice  of  the 
Spirit  of  God,  communicating  delight  and  holy  joy  to 
the  soul,  and  pouring  forth  upon  them  a  wonderful  fer- 
vor of  assurance  and  spirit  of  prayer.  All  they  said 
was  heard  with  the  utmost  reverence  and  awe.  They 
spread  like  wildfire,  not  only  on  the  continent  of  Eu- 
rope,,but  in  England.  They  there  gave  out  that  one 
of  their  teachers,  who  had  died,  would  come  to  life 
again  :  fortunately  he  did  not  appear,  though  the  mul- 
titude kept  on  believing. 

In  1685,  the  Tremblers  of  Cevennes  appeared,  and  were 
soon  followed  by  the  Convulsionaries  of  St.  Menard, 
both  of  which  sects  will  be  noticed  in  another  place, 
for  a  different  purpose  from  the  one  now  on  hand. 

In  1686,  Sir  Walter  Scott  informs  us  that  the  good 
people  of  Lanark,  in  Scotland,  saw  showers  of  spiritual 
swords,  guns,  hats,  bonnets,  caps,  &c,  fall  for  days  in 
succession. 

About  this  same  period,  also,  Sabbatai  Levi  appeared 
in  the  east,  and  the  Quietists  in  France  and  Spain,  al- 
ready alluded  to.  Valentine  Greatrakes,  who  appeared 
in  Ireland,  and  Emanuel  Swedenborg,  of  Sweden,  were 
also  among  the  progeny  of  this  wonderful  period  of 
combined  persecution,  credulity,  and  delusion. 

Swedenborg,  a  son  of  the  bishop  of  Gothnia,  was 
born  in  Stockholm,  Sweden,  in  1688.  He  was  a  man 
of  genius,  enthusiasm,  and  extensive  learning,  and  ulti- 
mately founded  the  New  Jerusalem  Church,  which  bears 
his  name.     His  hcgira   occurred   in    1743.     At  that 


90  PARTICULAR    FANATICISMS. 

time,  also,  the  Lord  manifested  himself  to  him,  as  he 
imagined,  by  personal  appearance,  and  opened  his  spir- 
itual eyes,  as  he  had  done  the  eyes  of  thousands,  both 
before  and  since.  He,  however,  was  peculiarly  favored, 
for  he  was  enabled  to  see  and  converse  with  spirits, 
uninterruptedly,  for  more  than  twenty-seven  years. 
Thousands,  in  all  parts  of  Christendom,  have  believed 
in  the  revelations  which  he  published.  He  maintained 
that  all  others  might  enjoy  this  same  gift  of  second 
sight,  if  they  would  live  in  accordance  with  what  he 
called  the  laws  of  their  spiritual  nature,  as  doubtless 
many  of  them  might,  and  indeed  all  who  could  first  get 
a  spiritual  nature,  like  his  own.  Multitudes  of  day 
dreamers,  in  as  many  various  churches,  might  attest  the 
truth  of  this.  Unlike  most  other  enthusiasts,  however, 
he  was  probably  sincere  in  his  delusion  ;  and,  whatever 
may  be  said  of  the  whimsical  absurdity  of  his  conceits, 
his  writings,  doctrines,  and  life,  were  neither  vulgar  nor 
immoral,  as  is  the  case  with  most  other  marvel-dealers. 
He  was  probably  a  learned,  pious,  devout  monomaniac; 
a  little  more  eccentric,  though  scarcely  more  absurd,  or 
insane,  than  thousands  of  others  whom  the  world  call 
wise  and  devout. 

The  famous  witchcraft  phrensy,  which  exploded  in 
Salem,  New  England,  in  1692,  belongs  to  this  same 
period.  Previous  to  this  time,  all  classes  believed  in 
witchcraft,  both  in  this  country  and  in  Europe.  It  was 
deemed  the  highest  impiety  to  doubt  it,  and  supposed 
witches  were  treated  as  capital  offenders  throughout 
Christendom.  Divines,  statesmen,  jurists,  physicians, 
philosophers,  and  scholars,  were  all  alike  swept  into  this 
vortex  of  fanatical  delusion,  the  combined  offspring  of 
that  infernal  spiritual  despotism  and  contemptible  ere- 


PARTICULAR    FANATICISMS.  91 

dulity,  which  had  for  ages  crushed  and  enfeebled  the 
human  race.  So  direful  was  this  mania,  that  when  the 
British  parliament  repealed  the  laws  for  the  execution 
of  witches,  in  1735,  Scotchmen,  of  the  kirk,  confessed 
and  deplored  that  act  of  benevolence  and  humanity  as 
among  the  annual  category  of  their  national  sins.  In 
New  England,  the  learned  and  pious  Cotton  Mather, 
by  a  mistaken  zeal, harangued  and  inflamed  the  already 
exorbitant  credulity  of  his  hearers.  He  taught  them 
that  they  were,  one  and  all,  attended  by  an  escort  of 
devils,  at  home  or  abroad,  awake  or  asleep,  from  whose 
malignant  power  they  could  not  escape ;  and,  to  cap  the 
climax  of  absurdity,  he  declared  that  the  detestable  pro- 
ceedings of  the  court  at  Salem,  he  thought,  had  shed 
marvellous  light  upon  the  Word  of  God  ! !  Of  course, 
these  devils  soon  furnished  the  people  with  business. 
Not  only  decrepid  old  men,  and  helpless  women  and 
children,  but  even  dogs  were  solemnly  adjudged  and 
executed,  for  the  imaginary  crime  of  witchcraft.  This 
example  is  not  quoted  as  an  instance  of  religious  fanati- 
cism, properly  speaking,  but  rather  to  show  that  there 
is  no  end  to  human  credulity,  when  guided  by  a  popular 
and  fanatical  corps  of  spiritual  instructors.  Some  have 
imagined  that,  the  devil  was  indeed  let  loose,  in  a  pe- 
culiar manner,  at  this  period.  No  doubt  he  was  ;  but 
it  was  to  befool  fanatics  and  courts,  not  to  bewitch  dogs. 
Doubtless,  also,  the  impending  horror  of  Indian  wars, 
and  the  general  consternation  of  the  times,  both  aided 
the  credulity  of  the  age  and  prospered  the  devil  in  his 
work.* 

In  1728,  soon  after  the  rebellion  in  Scotland,  John 
Glass  arose  in  that  country,  founded  the  sect  of  Glassites, 

*  See  Upham's  Witchcraft,  pages  256.  268. 


92  PARTICULAR    FANATICISMS. 

and  taught,  among  other  dogmas,  the  Mormon  doctrines 
of  weekly  administration  of  the  Lord's  supper,  washing 
each  other's  feet,  literal  interpretation  of  the  Scriptures, 
and  community  of  goods,  so  far  as  needed  for  the  poor 
and  the  service  of  the  church. 

Another  general  crop  of  fanatical  sects  sprung  up, 
ih  Great  Britain  and  America,  after  the  great  revivals 
of  Whitfield,  Wesley,  Edwards,  and  others,  and  which 
seem,  in  some  measure,  to  have  clustered  around  the 
American  and  French  revolutions.  In  this  class  come 
the  Jumpers  of  Wales,  already  mentioned,  and  Jemima 
Wilkinson,  Ann  Lee,  Mrs.  Buchan,  of  Scotland,  and 
Joanna  Southcote,  of  England. 

In  1776,  Ann  Lee,  daughter  of  a  blacksmith  in  Man- 
chester, England,  commenced  her  operations  near  Al- 
bany, New  York.  She  was  subject  to  peculiar  spasms 
and  convulsions,  as  many  other  impostors  have  been. 
In  these  fits,  she  would  clench  her  hands  until  the  blood 
oozed  through  the  pores  of  her  skin.  She  sometimes 
continued  in  them  until  her  flesh  and  strength  all  wasted 
away,  and  she  was  fed  and  nursed  like  an  infant.  She 
had  supernatural  visions  and  revelations.  Like  the  wife 
of  Smith,  she  pretended  that  she  was  the  elect  lady, 
and  also  that  she  was  the  woman  spoken  of  in  Revela- 
tions ;  that  she  and  Christ  were  the  two  first  pillars  of 
the  church,  and  that  no  blessing  could  descend  to  any 
person  but  through  her.  She  declared  that  she  was  the 
mother  of  all  the  elect,  and  travailed  in  childbirth  for 
the  whole  world  ;  that  she  could  converse  with  the 
dead,  and  speak  seventy-two  different  languages  ;  that 
she  should  never  die*  but  ascend  to  heaven  in  the  twink- 
ling of  an  eye.  She  did  die,  however  ;  but  her  death 
was  so  far  from  opening  the  eyes  of  her  dupes,  that  it 


PARTICULAR    FANATICISMS.  93 

• 

rather  confirmed  them  in  the  faith,  and  she  still  num- 
bers about  five  thousand  followers  in  the  United  States. 

Like  the  Mormons,  they  believe  that  they  are  the  only 
true  church  on  earth,  that  they  shall  reign  with  Christ 
a  thousand  years,  that  they  have  all  the  apostolic  gifts, 
and  like  them,  they  prove  all  their  doctrines  from 
prophecy,  as  well  as  by  signs  and  wonders. 

In  the  same  year,  1776,  Jemima  Wilkinson,  the  daugh- 
ter of  a  Quaker,  of  Cumberland,  Rhode  Island,  gave 
out  that  she  had  been  taken  sick,  and  had  actually  died, 
and  tjiat  her  soul  went  to  heaven,  and  continued  there. 
She  heard  the  inquiry  in  heaven :  "  Who  will  go  and 
preach  to  a  dying  world  V  She  answered,  "  Here  am 
I,  send  me."  Her  body  was  then  re-animated  by  the 
spirit  of  Christ,  upon  which  she  set  up  as  a  public  teacher, 
to  give  the  last  call  of  mercy  to  the  human  race.  She 
declared  that  she  had  arrived  to  a  state  of  perfection, 
and  knew  all  things  by  immediate  revelation  ;  that  she 
could  foretell  future  events,  heal  all  diseases,  and  discern 
the  secrets  of  the  heart.  And,  if  any  person  was  not 
healed  by  her,  she  attributed  it,  as  the  Mormons  do,  to 
the  want  of  faith.  She  assumed  the  title  of  universal 
friend  ;  declared  that  she  had  left  the  realms  of  glory 
for  the  good  of  mankind,  and  that  all  who  would  not 
believe  in  her  should  be  damned.  Her  first  visions  oc- 
curred during  her  pretended  illness  and  death,  when 
twenty-four  years  of  age,  in  1775.  After  this,  she 
enjoyed  them  at  her  leisure.  She  pretended  that  she 
should  live  a  thousand  years,'  and  then  be  translated, 
without  death.  She  preached  in  ^defence  of  a  commu- 
nity of  goods,  and  took,  herself,  whatever  "  the  Lord 
had  need  of."  Multitudes  of  the  poor,  and  many  of  the 
rich,  believed  on  her  in  New  England,  and  made  large 


94  PARTICULAR    FANATICISMS. 

contributions  to  her.  Some  gave  hundreds,  and  one 
even  a  thousand  dollars  for  her  use.  Several  wealthy 
families  were  ruined  by  her.  Neither  theft,  nor  at- 
tempted murder,  nor  the  hypocrisy  of  failing  to  walk 
on  water,  and  of  attempting  to  raise  a  living  man  to 
life,  placed  in  a  coffin  for  that  purpose,  in  all  which 
she  was  fully  detected,  could  undeceive  her  followers. 
In  spite  of  her  pretended  immortality,  she  died  in  1819. 
Her  followers  would  not  believe  in  her  death,  even 
when  they  saw  her  corpse.  They  refused  to  bury  her 
body,  but,  at  last,  were  compelled  to  dispose  of  it,  in 
some  way,  in  secret.  Those  most  interested  in  the 
game,  by  the  double  magic  of  either  loss  or  gain,  pre- 
tended that  she  had  only  left  them  for  a  time,  to  return 
again,  and  that  her  spirit  would  still  be  the  guardian 
angel  of  all  her  followers,  who  of  course  kept  on  be- 
lieving.* 

In  1783,  a  Mrs.  Buchan,  in  Glasgow,  pretended  that 
she  also  was  the  woman  spoken  of  in  Revelations;  that 
the  end  of  the  world  was  near,  and  that  all  who  be- 
lieved on  her  should  be  taken  up  to  heaven  without 
tasting  death.  Her  own  death,  however,  in  this  case 
did  somewhat  stagger  the  faith  of  her  followers. 

In  1792,  Joanna  Southcote,  a  servant  maid  of  Exe- 
ter, England,  assumed  the  character  of  a  prophetess, 
and  pretended  that  she  was  the  woman  of  the  wilder- 
ness, and  could  give  the  seal  of  eternal  life  to  her  fol- 
lowers. Like  Smith  &  Co.,  she  uttered  dreadful  pro- 
phetic denunciations  upon  her  opposers  and  the  unbe- 
lieving nations,  and  predicted  the  speedy  approach  of 
her  millenium.  Of  course  her  thousands  of  followers 
found  all  her  predictions  fulfilled.  In  the  last  year  of 
*  Millenial  Harbinger,  vol.  II.,  page  278. 


PARTICULAR    FANATICISMS.  95 

her  life  she  secluded  herself  from  the  world,  and  espe- 
cially from  the  society  of  the  other  sex,  and  gave  out 
that  she  was  with  child  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  and  that 
she  should  give  birth  to  the  Shiloh  promised  to  Jacob 
before  the  end  of  the  harvest,  which  would  be  the 
second  coming  of  Christ.  Harvest,  however,  came 
and  went,  but  no  Shiloh  appeared.  She  died  on  the 
27th  of  the  following  December.  Her  disciples  refused 
to  bury  her.  They  waited  four  days  for  her  resurrec- 
tion and  the  birth  of  the  Shiloh,  until  she  began  to  rot. 
They  *hen  consented,  with  much  reluctance,  to  a  post- 
mortem examination,  which  fully  refuted  their  belief. 
Her  disciples  then,  with  still  greater  reluctance,  buried 
her  body,  but  not  their  faith  either  in  her  or  the  prom- 
ised Shiloh.  On  the  contrary,  they  continue  to  flatter 
themselves  that  she  will  yet,  in  some  way,  reappear, 
and  that  with  her  will  come  their  long  expected  Shiloh, 
and  their  Mormon  gathering  and  millenium  of  Mor- 
mon glory. 

In  this  same  year,  1792,  Richard  Brothers  published 
a  book  of  prophecies  and  visions,  and  an  account  of  his 
daily  intercourse  with  God,  in  London.  Among  his 
followers  was  a  member  of  the  British  parliament,  a 
profound  scholar,  and  one  of  the  most  learned  men  of  his 
time.  He  made  a  speech  in  the  house  of  commons  de- 
claring his  full  belief  in  one  of  the  greatest  absurdities 
ever  presented  to  the  British  populace. 

In  the  crop  of  religious  fanatics  we  must  also  men- 
tion the  Illuminati,  or  French  atheists,  whose  particular 
fanaticism,  owing  to  the  peculiarity  of  the  age  and 
country  in  which  they  lived,  took  tne  form  of  extreme 
and  puerile  credulity  in  unbelief.  That  is,  they  refused 
to  admit  and  believe  the  religion  of  truth  and  reason 


96  PARTICULAR    FANATICISMS. 

which  God  has  given  to  the  world,  and  set  themselves 
to  work,  as  all  other  fanatics  have  done,  to  make  a  bet- 
ter one  for  themselves  and  their  race.  Other  fanatics 
have  disbelieved  and  denounced  what  they  called  the 
absurdities  of  a  particular  faith,  and  advanced  and  pre- 
tended to  believe  still  greater  absurdities  of  their  own. 
The  infidel  fanatics  of  France,  on  the  contrary,  de- 
nounced the  absurdity,  or  what  they  deemed  such,  of 
all  faith,  and  advanced  an  absurdity  of  their  own  which 
implies  and  demands  a  greater  stretch  of  human  cre- 
dulity than  the  combined  sense  and  nonsense  of  all  other 
creeds.  Men  may  prattle  about  unbelief,  but,  after  all, 
they  believe  something,  and  that  something  which  infi- 
dels and  skeptics  do  actually  believe,  be  it  more  or  less, 
will  be  found,  on  examination,  to  be  more  absurd  than 
the  combined  dogmas  of  all  other  fanatics.  Atheism 
is  necessarily  the  greatest  of  all  credulity.  It  is  the 
same  perversion  of  a  man's  religious  nature  which  con- 
stitutes the  basis  of  all  other  fanaticisms.  Disbelief  of 
what  is  rational,  is  real  or  pretended  belief  in  what  is 
absurd.  The  greatest  fanaticism  of  any  age  is  the  fa- 
naticism of  the  atheist.  Probably  most  of  the  impos- 
tors of  other  names  have  themselves  been  at  heart 
atheists,  or  at  least  skeptics. 

Other  fanaticisms  are  more  or  less  selfish  and  malig- 
nant. The  fanaticism  of  atheism  is,  inherently,  all 
selfishness  and  all  malice.  Other  fanatics  attempt  to 
relieve  a  portion  of  mankind  of  their  instinctive  fear  of 
a  final  retribution,  by  inculcating  the  belief  of  some  par- 
ticular absurdity.  ^The  fanatical  atheist  attempts  to  re- 
lieve at  once  th^Brhole  human  race  from  the  same 
salutary  fear  by  inculcating  belief  in  dogmas  which 
render  the  globe  a  riddle,  and  man  the  greatest  of  all 


PARTICULAR    FANATICISMS.  97 

absurdities  in  and  of  himself.  To  relieve  their  follow- 
ers from  fear,  other  fanatics  sometimes  reason  absurdly; 
but  the  atheist  does  the  business  at  once  by  making  all 
reason,  and  the  universe  itself,  a  riddle  and  an  absurdity. 

In  France,  however,  they  compromised  the  matter 
somewhat,  at  last,  and  after  proclaiming  that  there  was 
no  God,  no  virtue,  no  crime,  no  heaven,  and  no  hell, 
they  established  the  worship  of  the  goddess  of  reason, 
to  satisfy  the  unquenchable  instincts  of  the  human  soul, 
instead  of  the  worship  of  Joanna  Southcote,  or  Jemima 
Wilkinson,  or  Joe  Smith,  as  other  fanatics  have  done. 
The  result  of  this  experiment,  and  the  number  of  their 
dupes  in  this  country  and  Europe,  are  too  well  known 
to  need  further  comment  here. 

These  are  all  the  religious  fanaticisms  of  note  which 
clustered  around  the  political  revolutions  of  the  last  part 
of  the  past  century,  unless  we  include  the  fanaticism  of 
what  is  called  the  Kentucky  revival,  in  the  year  1800, 
which  will  be  adverted  to  in  another  place. 

After  these  tumults  had  subsided,  the  world  again  had 
some  rest,  until  about  the  year  1830,  when  another 
crop  of  fanaticisms  seems,  from  some  cause,  to  have 
been  produced,  particularly  in  the  United  States. 

In  this  shoal  we  find  Miss  Campbell,  of  Scotland, 
Irving  and  Mad  Thorn,  of  England,  Dilks,  of  Ohio,  Da- 
vidson and  Mrs.  Thompson,  of  Vermont,  Matthias  and 
Joe  Smith,  of  New- York. 

Miss  Campbell  appeared,  in  good  old  Scotland,  about 
the  year  1828.  She  pretended  that  she  had  come 
back  from  the  dead,  and  had  th^gift  of  tongues. 
Several  ministers  of  the  church  of  Scotland  are  said 
to  have  believed  on  her,  as  well  as  some  distinguished 
members  of  the  bar.     The  mad  rhapsodies  of  Irving 


98  PARTICULAR    FANATICISMS. 

are  too  well  known  to  need  further  notice.  The  par* 
ticular  history  of  Mad  Thorn  is  not  at  hand  ;  that  of 
Matthias  has  recently  appeared  in  most  of  the  journals 
of  the  day.  Like  him,  Dilks,  the  impostor  of  Ohio, 
pretended  to  be  Almighty  God  himself.  Davidson,  his 
disciple,  appeared  in  the  vicinity  of  Bakersfield,  in 
Vermont,  in  1829.  He  pretended  that  Jesus  Christ 
was  a  woman,  and  inferior  to  Dilks,  who  was  God 
himself.  A  female,  by  the  name  of  Thompson,  ac- 
cordingly appeared  as  Jesus  Christ,  the  son  of  Dilks. 
The  millenium  was  to  take  place  in  1832.  Dilks  and 
his  followers  were  to  assemble  at  Philadelphia,  as  their 
Mount  Zion,  where  they  were  to  reign  forever,  while 
the  rest  of  mankind  were  to  be  swept  from  the  earth. 
They  made  preparations,  as  Jemima  Wilkinson  had 
done  before  them,  to  raise  the  dead  ;  but  the  woman 
selected  for  the  purpose  got  tired  of  lying  in  the  coffin, 
and  came  forth  of  her  own  accord,  before  they  were 
ready  to  pray  her  into  life.  They  got  about  thirty  dis- 
ciples in  the  vicinity  of  Bakersfield,  where  they  assem- 
bled on  the  Sabbath,  and  rolled  naked  on  the  floor, 
men  and  women  together,  as  part  of  their  worship,  and 
committed  other  sins  too  revolting  to  mention.  Still 
they  found  plenty  of  followers.* 

Another  fanatic  appeared  in  Connecticut,  about  the 
year  1833,  who  pretended  that  he  was  Jesus  Christ, 

and,  in  a  public  meeting  in ,  professed  to  show 

the  prints  of  the  nails  of  his  crucifixion  in  his  hands. 
The  people,  finding  that  he  was  working  upon  the  cre- 
dulity of  the  sim^e,  wrongfully  imprinted  more  need- 
ful and  obvious  nWrks  upon  his  back,  and  he  suddenly 

*  See   Burlington   Sentinel,  June,   1831,  and   Millenial  Harbinger, 
Vol.  II.,  page  357. 


GENERAL    IGNORANCE    OF    FACTS.  99 

disappeared,  as  Davidson  and  his  followers  did  on  the 
application  of  the  tar  and  feathers  in  Vermont.  We 
must  protest,  however,  against  these  things,  even  in  the 
most  extreme  cases.  Instruct  the  people,  and  not  abuse 
fanatics.  That  is  the  only  way  to  kill  fanaticism  and 
rid  the  world  of  impostors* 

The  history  of  Smith,  who  marches  triumphantly  in 
front  of  this  last  escort  of  fanatics,  has  been  already 
given. 

I  have  been  thus  tedious  and  particular  in  giving  a 
brief  ♦summary  of  all  the  recorded  fanaticisms  of  these 
later  times,  because  a  simple  statement  of  facts  will 
tend  to  wither  up  that  lamentable  credulity  of  the  hu- 
man mind,  which  lies  at  once  at  the  foundation  both  of 
all  fanaticism  and  all  infidelity,  more  effectually  than 
all  the  logic  and  argument  in  the  universe, 

"  Let  but  the  people  know  these  things,"  and  they 
would  act  with  more  enchanting  power  upon  their 
minds  than  the  will  of  Caesar  could  upon  the  Romans. 

The  people  generally  have  homilies,  doctrines,  and 
dogmas  enough  ever  at  hand  ;  but  they  are  starved  for 
want  of  facts.  The  well-informed,  because  they  them- 
selves know  all  these  and  similar  facts,  are  too  apt  to 
take  it  for  granted  that  everybody  else  knows  them 
too  ;  and  that  some  bare  allusion  to  them  will  awaken 
the  same  ideas  in  other  minds  which  it  does  in  their  own. 
This  is  a  great  mistake,  and  one  which  we  have  en- 
deavored to  remedy,  not  for  the  benefit  of  those  who 
have  been  tolerably  instructed  in  matters  of  faith,  but 
for  the  good  of  the  ignorant  and  uninformed.  Others 
may  pass  this  tedious  and  disgusting  detail,  or  read  and 
pardon  it,  as  they  choose. 

In  view  of  these  facts,  however,  some  few  remarks 


100  REFLECTIONS    ON    FANATICISMS, 

will  perhaps  be  useful  to  all:  at  least,  they  will  conduce 
more  directly  to  the  specific  end  in  view. 

1.  During  the  dark  ages,  amid  the  total  dereliction 
of  all  reason  in  matters  of  faith,  and  the  consequent 
persecutions,  massacres,  famines,  and  plagues  that  at 
once  ravaged  and  terrified  the  globe,  the  prime  causes 
of  the  most  eccentric  human  credulity  and  fanaticisms? 
ignorance  and  terror,  were  ever  present  and  ever  ac- 
tive. 

By  examining  the  dates,  it  will  be  perceived  that  the 
most  hideous  fanaticisms,  since  that  period,  have  all  ei- 
ther clustered  about  similar  epochs  of  general  terror,  or 
have  followed,  as  a  sort  of  after-clap,  some  more  dig- 
nified, if  not  more  rational,  outbreak  of  religious  enthu- 
siasm. 

1.  The  first  was  the  German  crop,  of  about  the  year 
1530,  which  attended  the  agitation  and  turmoil  of  the 
Reformation.  It  embraces  the  various  adherents  of  the 
Anabaptists  and  the  followers  of  David  George. 

2.  Next  came  the  English  crop  of  Quakers,  Seekers, 
Muggletonians,  &c,  about  1650,  in  the  days  of  the  Eng- 
lish Revolution. 

3.  Then  came  the  great  French  crop,  during  the 
terrible  persecutions  that  attended  the  revocation  of  the 
edict  of  Nantes,  and  the  horrid  hangings,  starvings, 
smokings,  drownings,  and  roastings  of  that  infernal  era, 
including  the  French  Prophets,  the  Quietists,  and  Trem- 
blers of  Cevennes,  followed  by  the  Convulsionaries  of 
St.  Menard. 

4.  The  English-American  crop,  escorted  by  the 
French  infidels,  appeared  at  the  close  of  the  last  cen- 
tury, during  the  French  and  American  revolutions, 
and  immediately  after  the  great  revivals  in  this  coun- 


CROPS    OF    FANATICS.  101 

try  and  in  England.  It  embraces  the  Jumpers,  in 
Wales,  the  Buchanites  of  Scotland,  and  the  followers 
of  Ann  Lee,  Jemima  Wilkinson,  and  Joanna  Southcote, 
and,  if  you  please,  the  Kentucky  Revivalists. 

The  crop  on  hand,  viz.,  Miss  Campbell,  Mr.  Irving, 
Mad  Thorn,  Mrs.  Thompson,  Dilks,  Matthias,  Joe 
Smith,  Abner  Kneeland,  Fanny  Wright,  &c,  were 
produced  neither  by  famine,  war,  nor  terror,  but  by 
folly.  It  would  seem,  in  this  case,  as  if  all  antecedent 
causes  were  reversed,  and  that  now,  in  an  age  of  pro- 
found, peace  and  universal  ease  and  plenty,  men  turned 
maniacs,  and  ran  after  fools  from  sheer  ennui,  because 
they  had  nothing  else  to  do. 

The  Illuminati  of  France  and  Spain,  and  Antoinette 
Bourignon,  appeared  immediately  after  the  Massacre  of 
St.  Bartholomews,  in  1572. 

Sabbatai  Levi  appeared  in  1666,  immediately  after 
the  terrible  massacre  of  the  Jews  in  Persia. 

The  Glassites,  in  Scotland,  arose  soon  after  the 
Scotch  rebellion  in  1715.  The  Salem  witchcraft  fol- 
lowed the  terrors  of  a  dreadful  Indian  war  and  other 
calamities. 

These  are  the  most  noted  instances  of  human  credu- 
lity, in  respect  to  religion,  since  the  revival  of  letters, 
except  Emanuel  Swedenborg,  and  a  few  similar  cases, 
which  stand  either  sacred  or  sui  generis.  I  have 
merely  located  these  events  ;  others  may  philosophize 
upon  them  as  they  choose.  So  will  I.  It  is  sufficient 
for  my  present  purpose  to  remark,  what  must  be  appa- 
rent to  all,  that  both  persecution  and  terror,  of  all  sorts, 
tend  to  increase  the  general  credulity  and  fanaticism 
of  mankind.     Where  these  are  wanting,  an  enthusias- 


102       GENERAL  AGREEMENT  OF  FANATICS. 

tic,  semi-rational,  and  sectarian  Christianity  will  answer 
a  good  purpose. 

If  such  facts  do  not  demonstrate  that  mankind  will 
believe  any  thing  in  religion,  however  absurd  and  pre- 
posterous, provided  it  be  absurd,  and  at  the  same  time 
promise  salvation  as  the  reward  of  faith,  it  is  difficult 
to  say  what  would  prove  it.  The  truth  is,  Mormonism 
is  no  anomaly  in  our  world  ;  it  only  conforms  to  the 
general  rule.  We  ought  not  to  think  it  strange  that 
thousands  are  ready  to  lay  down  their  lives  in  defence 
of  its  absurdities.  It  would  be  more  strange  if  an  equal 
number  should  be  found  equally  ready  to  profess  and 
adhere  to  the  simple,  uncorrupted,  unostentatious,  ra- 
tional, and  tranquillizing  doctrines  of  Christ  and  his 
apostles.  Amid  the  utter  discord  of  these  professedly 
inspired  opinions,  it  is  interesting  to  notice  that  there 
are  certain  points  of  resemblance  in  which  they  gene- 
rally agree. 

1.  They  are  all  perfectly  sure  that  their  dogmas,  and 
those  of  their  own  teachers,  are  true,  for  they  have  the 
witness  of  the  Spirit  to  their  truth  in  their  own  souls. 
And  the  more  ridiculous  and  profligate  their  schemes 
of  faith  or  practice,  the  brighter  and  clearer  the  inter- 
nal gleamings  of  this  mystic  evidence  become. 

2.  They  all,  however  debauched,  pretend  to  great 
sanctity,  declaim  against  the  degeneracy  of  the  times, 
and  pretend  to  be  commissioned  of  God  for  the  reforma- 
tion of  the  church  and  the  world. 

3.  They  of  course  proclaim  that  the  day  of  millen- 
nial glory  is  near  at  hand,  and  already  commenced  in 
their  own  clan  ;  and  most  of  them  have  talked  of 
reigning  on  earth,  with  Christ,  a  thousand  years. 

4.  They  profess  a  literal  interpretation  of  so  much 


GENERAL    RELIGIOUS    LUNACY.  103 

scripture  as  is  needful  to  their  several  schemes ;  but 
whether  the  rest  is  interpreted  at  all,  or  annihilated, 
they  seem  not  to  care. 

5.  They  claim  the  gifts  of  tongues,  of  prophecy,  heal- 
ing, miracles,  &c. 

6.  They  all  profess  peculiar  intimacy  of  intercourse 
and  communion  with  God.  Most  of  their  leaders  have 
been  content  to  be  regarded  only  as  the  virtual  vice- 
gerents of  God  on  earth  :  others,  with  equal  success 
and  credit,  have  affected  to  be  Gods  themselves. 

Now  whether  we  call  any  or  all  of  these  impostors, 
knaves,  or  simple  madmen,  it  matters  little,  so  far  as 
our  present  object  is  concerned,  which  is  to  exhibit  and 
demonstrate  human  credulity.  One  fact  still  remains  ; 
they,  as  well  as  Joe  Smith,  all  obtained  followers,  even 
the  lowest  and  the  meanest  of  them.  We  might  sup- 
pose that  their  followers  also  were  lunatics,  unlike  the 
rest  of  their  kind ;  but  a  single  glance  at  the  history 
of  the  Pagan,  Mohammedan,  Catholic,  and  Protestant 
world,  where  things  equally  absurd,  if  not  equally  ec- 
centric, meet  us  on  all  hands,  must  convince  us  that  if 
these  are  maniacs,  it  is  only  because  they  belong  to  a 
race  of  religious  madmen  who  have  more  industriously 
and  systematically  prosecuted  the  regular  trade  in  cre- 
dulity and  delusion,  while  these  have  only  wrought  by 
fitful  experiments  in  the  hours  of  pastime.  Their  mad- 
ness only  appears  singular  and  eccentric  when  com- 
pared with  the  more  prevailing,  settled,  and  popular 
phrensy  of  their  fellows. 

We  except  neither  pretended  philosophers,  nor  atheists, 
nor  skeptics  from  this  general  rule  of  religious  lunacy, 
but  only  those,  whoever  they  are,  and  in  whatever  sect, 
who  have  sincerely  and  honestly  applied  their  minds  and 


104  HUMAN    CREDULITY, 

submitted  their  hearts  to  a  simple,  practical,  common 
sense  interpretation  of  the  word  of  God — the  only  cure 
of  religious  insanity  the  world  has  ever  seen. 

We  have  accounted  for  the  credulity  and  insanity  of 
all  others  by  attributing  it  primarily  to  the  perverse 
action  of  the  desire  of  power  in  the  few,  and  aversion  to 
restraint  in  the  many,  upon  the  constitutionally  religious 
nature  of  man,  or  upon  the  "  instinct  of  faith." 

Some  choose  to  designate  this  same  tendency  to  per- 
verse belief  by  the  general  name  of  human  depravity. 
Others  stoutly  deny  that  human  nature  is  depraved  as 
regards  religion  ;  very  philosophically,  no  doubt,  as  all 
the  above  facts  show.  However,  they,  as  well  as 
other  philosophical  maniacs,  can  find  fools  enough  to 
believe  them ;  each  of  whom  is  "  wiser  than  ten  men 
who  can  render  a  reason,"  at  least  in  his  own  eyes. 

There  is,  however,  another  subprdinate  principle  of 
great  power  which  is  made  to  play  into  the  hands  of 
these  more  active  agents  in  the  great  game  of  credulity 
and  delusion.  It  is  an  innate  love  of  excitement  of 
any  kind,  but  especially  of  that  excitement  which  is 
produced,  in  the  minds  of  individuals  and  communities, 
by  whatever  is  new,  strange,  mysterious,  or  marvellous. 
Personal  agitation  will  do  ;  but  popular  uproar  is  far 
better.  A  marvellous  and  mystical  church  dogma, 
with  its  attendant  ranting  eulogies,  is  tolerable  ;  but  a 
stump  speech,  a  good  tragedy,  a  horse-race,  or  a  mob, 
is  first  rate. 

A  single  fact  will  illustrate  the  action  of  this  principle. 

In  the  year  1749,  the  facetious  Duke  of  Montague, 
speaking  of  this  innate  love  of  exciting  marvels,  offered 
a  wager  that  a  large  audience  could  be  assembled  at 
the  new  theatre  in  London,  to  see  a  man  jump  into  a 


THE    BOTTLE   CONJURER.  105 

quart  bottle.  His  proffer  was  accepted  ;  he  accord- 
ingly advertised  "  that  on  the  following  Monday,  a  gen- 
tleman would  appear  in  the  theatre,  in  the  Hay  Market, 
who  would  perform  the  most  surprising  feats.  First, 
he  would  take  a  common  walking-stick  from  any  of  the 
spectators,  and  thereon  play  the  music  of  any  instru- 
ment now  in  use  ;  then  he  would  take  a  common  wine- 
bottle,  place  it  on  the  table,  leap  in  at  the  cork-hole,  and 
there  sing  and  play  as  before,  while  any  gentlemen 
might  handle  the  bottle  at  his  leisure  to  ascertain  that 
he  wa$  actually  in  it."  Other  wonders  were  added,  as 
for  example,  "  the  conjurer  would  bring  to  life  and  pre- 
sent any  deceased  friend  upon  the  stage,  whom  any 
gentleman  or  lady  might  wish  to  see  or  hear  from," 
&c.  &c. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  opponent  of  the  duke,  in  or- 
der to  defeat  the  hoax,  put  up  a  supplement  to  the  ad- 
vertisement, in  which  it  was  stated  that  another  gentle- 
man, "  no  taller  than  a  tobacco  pipe,  would,  on  the 
same  evening,  among  other  wonders,  transform  his 
body  into  ten  thousand  different  shapes,  and  finally 
open  his  mouth  and  jump  down  his  own  throat." 

It  was  all  in  vain  ;  human  credulity  prevailed,  and 
the  duke  got  his  wager.  A  prodigious  throng  assem- 
bled. The  house  was  crowded  with  dukes,  duchesses, 
lords  and  ladies,  of  all  degrees  and  ranks  ;  they  waited 
for  the  performance  until  they  grew  impatient ;  an  up- 
roar ensued — some  shouting,  some  beating  with  their 
canes,  others  hurling  the  candles  about  the  house,  until 
finally  the  greater  part  made  off  as  well  as  they  could, 
losing  hats,  wigs,  cloaks,  and  swords  as  they  went ; 
while  others  staid  to  demolish  the  theatre  within ;  carry- 
ing all  the  furniture  out  into  the  street,  they  made  a 
5* 


106  LOVE    OF    EXCITING    MARVELS. 

bonfire  of  it,  and  only  ceased  from  their  work  of  de- 
struction on  the  arrival  of  the  superior  force  of  the  city 
guards.* 

Here  is  a  principle  at  work  which  has  ruled  the 
multitude  in  all  ages  to  an  incredible  extent.  Men  will 
believe  any  thing  or  do  any  thing,  which  promises  them 
excitement,  if  not  deterred  by  fear. 

In  the  country,  a  discourse,  based  on  simple  reason 
and  truth,  from  the  wisest  and  best  man  in  the  nation, 
on  the  most  important  of  all  concerns,  would  not  draw 
out  a  dozen  of  these  marvel-hunting  lovers  of  excite- 
ment. But  a  horse-race,  or  a  bear-dance,  or  a  stump 
speech  from  any  hypocritical  demagogue  in  the  land, 
would  bring  out  thousands  of  them.  Reason  with 
them  in  church  on  the  duty  and  necessity  of  their  for- 
saking their  sins,  and  honestly  attempting  to  live  in  ac- 
cordance with  the  laws  of  their  nature  and  their  God,  as 
the  only  possible  condition  of  safety,  either  here  or  here- 
after, and  how  they  yawn  !  Tell  them  that  they  can 
be  saved  by  falling  into  some  wonderful  and  inexplica- 
ble ecstacy,  or  by  believing  some  mystic  absurdity,  or 
by  submitting  to  some  externa]  ceremony,  or  perform- 
ing some  senseless  mummery,  and  they  are  all  awake. 
The  first  doctrine  is  obvious  and  onerous ;  the  others 
are  marvellous  and  transient ;  and  you  have  only  to 
blow  away  at  it  hard,  and  keep  it  well  shrouded  in  mys- 
tery, and  well  inflated  with  passion,  and  there  will  be 
an  old  shouting  of  "glory"  and  "  amen  for  ever  !! !" 

Proclaim  in  the  city  a  public  thanksgiving  to  Almighty 
Cod,  and  you  will  not  gather  a  basket- full  of  this  fash- 
ionable rabble  of  ingrates.  But  proclaim  that  a  new 
ape  or  an  old  debauchee,  will  play  King  Lear,  or  Jack 

*  See  Sketches  of  Odd  Characters,  page  124. 


RULE    FOR    FANATICS.  107 

FalstafF,  or  that  a  new  prostitute  will  sing,  or  dance,  or 
climb  a  rope,  and  all  the  peculiarly  rational  and  re- 
spectable part  of  the  community  will  be  there — unless 
they  chance  to  hear  that  a  man  is  going  to  jump  into  a 
quart  bottle  somewhere  else — and  then  of  course  they 
will  be  there. 

Such  being  the  order  of  things,  it  is  no  wonder  that 
enthusiasts,  fanatics,  and  impostors,  find  both  hearers 
and  believers,  provided  they  can  muster  absurdities 
enough  to  draw  them  together,  accompanied  with  a 
good, supply  of  promises  to  save  them,  and  threats  to 
damn  them  if  they  wont  believe.  The  only  thing  need- 
ful in  order  to  make  proselytes  to  any  monstrous  ab- 
surdity, which  proffers  salvation  without  the  pain  and 
trouble  of  a  thorough  moral  reformation,  is  to  tell  your 
lie,  and  stick  to  it,  at  all  hazards,  through  thick  and  thin. 
It  matters  not  if  it  contradicts  not  one,  but  all  the  five 
human  senses.  Proclaim  that  the  sun  shines  at  mid- 
night, and  the  stars  at  noonday,  and  maintain  that  all 
will  be  saved,  or  at  least  annihilated,  if  they  will  believe, 
and  stick  to  it,  and  they  will  believe — you  will  find  fol- 
lowers. As  soon  as  you  get  enough  together  to  work 
on  popular  sympathy,  get  up  before  them,  and  if  you 
are  not  prepared  to  go  the  whole  length  in  fanaticism, 
and  proclaim  Deism  or  Atheism  at  once,  take  the  Bible 
along  with  you  :  the  devil  is  compelled  to  work  chiefly 
by  the  aid  of  the  Bible  in  these  days ;  its  truths  are  so 
obviously  obligatory,  that  he  must  quote  scripture,  ex- 
cept among  the  very  lowest  grade  of  religious  maniacs. 
Never  fear  then,  the  more  the  Bible  contradicts  you, 
the  more  readily  you  will  be  believed.  Only  take  care 
not  to  quote  too  much  in  the  same  connection  ;  but 
snatch  a  text   here,  another  there,  now  from  Ezekiel, 


108  GROUND    OF    HOPE. 

now  from  the  Evangelists,  now  from  the  Apostles,  now 
from  the  Apocalypse ;  jumble  them  all  up  together,  and 
though  every  text  you  quote  is  directly  against  you, 
still  bellow  away,  and  assert  the  contrary — tell  them 
they  will  be  damned  if  they  dont  believe  you,  and  stick 
to  it,  and  you  will  find  enough  to  believe.  Oh ! — they 
will  say — see  how  he  quotes  scripture  !  The  Bible  is 
all  at  his  tongue's  end  !  !  His  argument  is  all  scripture ! ! 
Strange  this  wicked  and  perverse  generation  will  not 
believe ! ! 

This  simple  rule  would  be  of  incalculable  benefit  to 
the  ambitious  reformer,  or  the  pliant  catspaw  of  any 
petty  sect ;  and  the  more  absurd  their  dogmas  the  bet- 
ter. Jesus  Christ  could  scarce  find  a  dozen  followers 
in  our  world,  and  even  these  at  last  forsook  him  and 
fled.  Joe  Smith  could  find  a  hundred  thousand  to  "  fight 
to  the  death"  for  him,  in  any  province  in  Christendom. 

If  it  is  asked — What  then  is  our  reliance  for  the  final 
dominion  of  truth  over  error?  we  answer,  because 
error  is  strong  only  in  tumult,  truth  only  in  repose. 
The  one  mounts  like  a  rocket,  only  to  fall  like  a  stick : 
the  other  rises  slowly  and  imperceptibly  indeed  in  the 
world,  but  steadily  and  surely,  as  the  ascent  of  the  sun. 
The  few,  with  the  one,  are  and  must  be,  in  the  long-run, 
stronger  than  the  many  with  the  other.  And  when 
Christianity  can  once  be  rendered  rational,  as  it  really 
is,  without  being  made  soulless,  its  hold  and  its  sway, 
over  minds  of  all  orders  and  tendencies,  will  be  at  once 
strengthened  and  confirmed.  But  ere  that  day  arrives, 
it  seems  destined,  by  the  perverse  ingenuity  of  man,  to 
pass  through  all  imaginable  corruptions,  and  contend 
against  all  possible  sophisms.  This  last  great  battle  of 
eternity  cannot,  in  the  nature  of  things,  be  fought  by  a 


GROUND    OF    HOPE.  109 

single  arm  or  a  single  age.  It  is  pleasant  to  reflect 
that  even  the  absurdities  of  Mormonism  are  in  many 
ways,  though  unwittingly,  hastening  on  this  great  day 
of  the  final  triumph  of  truth.  Even  here,  it  may  be 
noticed  with  gratitude,  that  the  Lord  is  bringing  good 
out  of  evil. 


110  GROUNDS  OF  THE  CREDIBILITY,  ETC. 

CHAPTER  IV. 

GROUNDS    OF    THE    CREDIBILITY    OF  A  DIVINE    REVELATION. 

Grounds  of  caution — Charter  of  freedom — Basis  of  false  schemes  of 
faith — 1.  Force — 2.  Sympathy — 3.  Fanatical  experience — 4.  Human 
testimony — God's  judgment  of— Value  of  testimony — Puerility  of  skep- 
tics— True  grounds  of  religious  belief— Existence  of  the  Deity — Per- 
sonal  experience — Inherent  truth  of  Christianity — Objections,  interpo- 
lations, &c. — Proofs  from  inevitable  inference — God's  mode  of  furnish- 
ing the  facts — Man's  mode  of  explaining  them — Origin  of  the  Bible — 
Authority  of  the  Bible — Laws  of  nature — Moral  necessity  of  miracles 
— Hume's  sophism — Examples  of  facts  to  be  explained — Conclusion. 

It  was  our  object,  in  the  last  chapter,  to  exhibit  the 
fact,  and  some  of  the  principal  causes  of  the  extreme 
credulity  of  mankind  in  matters  of  faith.  We  will  now 
endeavor  to  derive  some  further  practical  inferences 
from  these  phenomena,  which  will  lead  us  to  consider 
the  grounds  on  which  a  professed  revelation  from  heaven 
can  be  made  rationally  credible  to  mankind. 

I.  And,  first,  I  remark  that  the  facts  adduced  in  the 
last  chapter  warn  us  to  scrutinize  all  such  professed 
revelations  with  extreme  distrust,  caution,  and  care.  We 
cannot  believe,  if  we  would,  one  in  a  million  of  those 
who  have  had  the  impudence  to  challenge  the  faith  of 
our  race.  This  fact,  by  itself,  shows,  if  we  were  to 
reason  only  from  the  general  nature  and  tendency  of 
the  human  mind  to  believe  in  such  j^evelations,  that  some 
such  revelation  of  the  will  of  God  is  at  once  probable, 
necessary,  and  natural,  in  a  moral  sense,  because  the 
race  have  been  so  constituted  by  their  Maker,  as  uni- 
versally to  expect  it.     By  analogy,  this  appetency,  as 


GROUNDS  OF  EXTREME  CAUTION.         Ill 

well  as  all  others,  would  necessarily  demand  its  appro- 
priate object,  somewhere,  in  some  age  or  country.  The 
basis  of  this  universal  credulity  is  the  peculiar  nature 
which  God  has  given  man  for  wise  and  holy  ends.  That 
nature  leads  him  to  expect  a  genuine  revelation  from 
his  Maker,  through  his  fellow-man,  in  some  way.  But, 
perverted,  it  leads  him  to  believe  in  the  counterfeits  in- 
stead of  the  true  ;  which  counterfeits,  in  and  of  them- 
selves, imply  a  true,  genuine  original,  somewhere,  as 
necessarily  as  counterfeit  coins  imply  the  previous  ex- 
istence of  their  genuine  originals. 

Reasoning,  however,  from  the  actual  experience  of 
mankind,  as  regards  the  claims  of  any  particular  new 
revelations,  professing  to  come  from  God,  they  are,  in 
any  age  or  country,  in  the  highest  degree  improbable 
and  absurd.  If  their  claims  were  true,  they  would  be 
a  sort  of  miracles,  which  no  other  being  but  Almighty 
God  could  render,  in  the  least  degree,  credible.  The 
chain  of  evidence,  on  which  alone  we  are  authorized 
to  suspend  our  faith,  in  any  professed  revelation,  must 
be  seen  to  hang  from  the  eternal  throne,  and  each  suc- 
cessive link,  as  it  drops  through  coming  ages,  must  be 
attached,  secured,  and  held  only  by  the  same  omnipo- 
tent hand.  The  polluting  touch  of  either  men  or  angels, 
at  once  dissevers  the  dishonored  link,  in  what  part  of 
the  chain  soever  it  is  placed,  and  from  that  point  the 
chain  falls.  We  know  that  God  is  not  wont  to  converse 
with  mortals  as  a  man  converses  with  his  fellow-man ; 
and  among  the  millions  who  have  pretended  to  such 
converse,  from  motives  of  pride,  ambition,  or  power,  or 
impelled  by  insanity,  we  have  found  them  uniformly 
liars.  Men  speak  the  truth  generally,  in  other  matters, 
and  can  be  believed,  but  in  religion  experience  has 


112  CHARTER  OF  OUR  FREEDOM. 

proved  the  whole  race,  as  such,  a  race  of  liars. 
They  can  neither  be  believed  in  part,  nor  in  whole,  on 
the  ground  of  their  own  veracity.  The  greatest  mira- 
cle, apparent  in  the  New  Testament,  consists  in  the  fact 
that  God  has  enabled  us  to  demonstrate,  independently  of 
all  direct  human  testimony,  that  the  evangelists  and 
apostles,  and  authors  of  the  Scriptures,  spoke  the 
truth,  while  the  rest  of  their  race,  in  similar  circum- 
stances, have  uniformly  lied.  New  versions  of  an  old 
and  accredited  scheme  of  faith  would  fall  under  the 
same  rule.  Whether  a  man  comes  forward,  therefore, 
with  either  a  new  scheme  of  faith,  or  a  new  version  of 
an  old  scheme,  the  rational  presumption  is  that  he  is  either 
a  lunatic  or  an  impostor.  He  must  demonstrate  that  he 
is  not,  before  we  can  believe  him,  however  plausible 
his  scheme.  To  hold  him  rigorously  and  unsparingly 
to  this,  is  a  duty  we  owe  at  once  to  ourselves,  and  to 
the  human  race. 

As  human  beings,  we  have  each  and  all  an  inalienable 
and  inborn  right  to  do,  to  say,  or  to  think  whatever  we 
please,  unless  good  and  unanswerable  reasons  can  be 
shown,  in  particular  instances,  why  we  should  refrain. 

Our  powers  of  action,  bodily  and  mental,  are,  in  and 
of  themselves,  the  great  charter  of  our  entire  freedom, 
signed,  sealed,  and  delivered  to  each  one  of  us,  by  the 
omnipotent  God  himself,  in  that  hour  when  he  formed 
our  bodies,  and  breathed  into  us  our  eternal  souls.  And 
no  being  in  heaven,  earth,  or  hell,  has  any  right  to  ab- 
stract the  smallest  item  from  this  innate  freedom,  but 
God  himself — God,  speaking  to  us,  in  some  way,  through 
that  reason  and  conscience  which  he  has  implanted 
within  us.  God,  who  alone  gave,  alone  may  take  away. 
If  man  becomes  the  agent,  he  must  demonstrate  his  au- 


FORCE,  AS  A  GROUND  OF  FAITH.  113 

thority  from  God ;  otherwise,  it  is  our  duty  to  resist  it  even 
unto  death.  But  to  seize  hold  of  the  religious  elements 
of  man's  nature,  and  wield  them  for  the  ends  of  pride 
and  power,  is  the  surest  of  all  ways  to  trample  millions 
in  the  dust,  and  reach  all  earthly  emoluments  at  a  single 
grasp.  The  man  who  holds  the  religious  confidence  of 
any  community,  holds  them  all :  and  we  need  not  trace, 
to  the  world  of  despair,  the  terrible  consequences  of  the 
hypocrisy  and  perfidy  of  false  guides  in  faith,  whether 
professed  enthusiasts  or  atheists,  in  order  to  startle  our 
confidence,  check  our  credulity,  and  throw  us  back 
upon  our  reason  and  our  rights.  There  is  enough  in 
both  the  past  and  present  history  of  the  world  to  do  it, 
and  do  it  effectively,  if  we  have  any  claim  to  either 
reason  or  common  sense.  The  man  who  allows  him- 
self either  to  believe  or  to  disbelieve,  in  matters  of  such 
vast  concern  to  all,  without  the  most  demonstrable 
proofs,  is  at  once  a  traitor  to  himself,  to  his  race,  and  to 
his  God,  and  deserves  the  contempt  and  execration  of 
mankind. 

II.  Let  us  then,  notice  some  of  the  grounds  upon 
which  false  schemes  of  faith  have  been  received  and 
passed  from  man  to  man. 

They  are,  in  general,  four: — 1.  Force,  or  military 
power ;  2.  Sympathy ;  3.  Fanatical  experience  ;  4. 
Human  testimony. 

1.  The  first  ground  of  faith,  we  notice,  is  force,  or 
civil,  or  military  authority. 

The  world  has  seen  many  great  logicians,  but,  after 
all,  there  is  nothing  that  will  reason  like  a  wTell- 
disciplined  army.  Men  are  wont  to  listen  to  truth  when 
it  comes  from  the  cannon's  mouth.  The  sword  carves 
out  a  path  of  argumentation  for  itself,  and  the  halter 


114        SYMPATHY,  AS  A  GROUND  OF  FAITH. 

silences  all  objections.  In  this  way,  Mohammed,  the 
Popes,  and  many  others,  have  convinced  half  the  hu- 
man race. 

2.  The  next  false  ground  of  belief  is  sympathy,  or  a 
tendency  to  believe,  because  others  do,  without  know- 
ing why  or  wherefore.  I  mention  this,  not  as  peculiar 
to  false  faiths,  but  as  a  false  ground  of  belief  common 
to  all  faiths  alike. 

It  is  self-evident  that  nothing  can  be  more  childish, 
and  more  truly  contemptible,  than  either  to  believe  or 
disbelieve  any  religious  system,  merely  because  our  as- 
sociates, or  those  around  us  do.  Still,  it  is  probable  that 
Christianity  itself  is  frequently  received,  at  least  nomi- 
nally, and  almost  uniformly  rejected,  on  this  ground,  and 
on  this  ground  alone.  It  is  the  mere  force  of  moral 
sympathy  which  gives  such  ridiculous  power  to  the  so- 
cial authority,  or  mere  "dictum"  of  congenial  tempers, 
whether  writers  or  speakers,  either  for  or  against  the 
truths  of  Christianity.  The  stripling  wight  and  the 
hoary  debauchee,  read  a  few  passages  from  Paine,  or 
Voltaire,  or  Gibbon,  or  Hume,  or  Fanny  Wright,  and 
they  swallow  down  all  they  read,  because  these  skep- 
tics say  so,  and  because  it  chimes  in  with  their  own 
moral  sympathies.  The  valorous  sticklers  for  ortho- 
doxy, among  twenty  belligerent  sects,  each  read  the 
"  dictums"  of  their  favorite  Joe  Smiths,  and  believe 
them  for  precisely  the  same  reason.  They  chime  in 
with  the  ruling  spirit  of  their  day-dreams  of  sectarian 
supremacy. 

If  we  cannot  receive  and  interpret  the  Scriptures  on 
better  grounds  than  these,  we  had  better  pack  off  to 
Nauvoo.  We  belong  there,  at  any  rate,  whether  pro- 
fessed  believers  or  skeptics.     Let  all   those,  of  what- 


FANATICAL    EXPERIENCE.  115 

ever  name,  who,  from  the  mere  impulse  of  social  sym- 
pathy— the  "esprit  du  corps" — put  their  own  little  clan 
above  the  human  race,  and  the  several  generals  of  their 
host  above  even  Jesus  Christ  himself,  look  well  to  the 
Mormons.  There  are  striking  resemblances  between 
this  sect  and  their  own ;  and  between  their  own  lead- 
ers and  the  general  at  Nauvoo.  Man-worship  is  not 
confined  to  the  Mormons. 

3.  The  next  ground  of  belief  we  noticed  is  fanatical 
experience,  or  immediate  personal  revelation  of  the 
truth  frpm  God  himself.  God  speaks  to  the  soul  of  the 
devotee,  and  openly  declares,  or  obscurely  intimates,  or 
at  least  obviously  confirms,  the  truth  of  his  opinions. 

Now,  whatever  God  says,  must  of  course  be  true ; 
and  the  only  thing  is,  to  be  sure  that  it  is  the  God  of 
truth  who  speaks,  and  not  our  own  vain,  conceited  im- 
aginations ;  or  our  vagrant,  wild,  and  frantic  impulses. 
There  are  several  things  to  be  observed  here. 

1.  The  first  is,  that  all  good  thoughts,  and  all  good 
things,  come,  either  directly  or  indirectly,  from  God, 
the  author  of  all  good. 

2.  All  truth,  and  especially  all  religious  truth,  tends 
undoubtedly,  when  known  and  received,  to  render  the 
mind  calm,  tranquil,  peaceful,  and  happy,  and  to  har- 
monize the  action  of  all  its  powers.  Truth  was  made 
for  the  mind,  and  the  mind  for  truth.  Pure  religious 
truth,  indeed,  gives,  from  its  own  nature,  a  peace  which 
the  world  of  error  knows  not  of. 

3.  Those  persons  who  talk  most  of  these  fanatical 
assurances  and  rhapsodies  of  faith,  are  in  tempera- 
ment, and  generally  in  temper,  directly  the  reverse  of 
all  this.  Enthusiastic  in  their  habits,  impetuous  in  their 
temper,  vehement  in  their  desires,  and  impatient  of  ne- 


116  FANATICAL  EXPERIENCE. 

cessary  ignorance,  they  at  once  affect  all  knowledge, 
and  imagine  for  themselves  all  truth.  This  is,  in  reali- 
ty, arrogance.  But  by  making  God,  directly,  their 
teacher,  they  contrive  to  call  it  humility. 

Such  a  man  may  be,  indeed,  conscious  of  his  thoughts 
and  impressions,  but  he  cannot  be  conscious  of  their 
origin.  Whether  they  proceed  from  God,  man,  or  the 
devil,  mere  consciousness  cannot  inform  him.  If  he 
knows  beforehand  that  his  thoughts  are  true  and  good, 
he  knows  they  are  from  the  Fountain  of  all  Good,  ei- 
ther directly  or  indirectly,  and  should  be  thankful  for 
them.  Otherwise  he  has  no  ground  for  such  belief,  no 
more  than  the  sot  has  proof  that  the  reveries  of  his  de- 
lirium are  from  the  direct  inspiration  of  God.  . 

If  his  opinions  and  thoughts  merely  serve  to  awaken 
grateful  and  turbulent,  or  what  he  calls  sweet  and  holy 
emotions  in  his  soul,  any  opinion  firmly  believed  to  be 
true  and  acceptable  to  God  would  do  the  same,  how- 
ever false  and  absurd  it  might  be.  Probably  no  one 
will  ever  surpass  Simeon  the  Stylite  of  old,  or  hundreds 
of  Mormons  in  these  days,  in  what  they  call  the  holy 
comforts  of  these  devout  raptures.  But  is  there  no 
way  by  which  God  assures  us  of  the  truth  ?  Yes ; 
when  we  search  for  it  in  accordance  with  his  will,  and 
the  laws  of  our  own  minds.  God  made  man  to  find 
the  truth,  as  he  does  his  natural  food,  by  searching  for 
it  abroad,  and  not  by  feeling  after  it  in  his  own  stom- 
ach. And  if  he  sets  himself  to  seek  for  it  in  this  way, 
he  will  soon,  like  the  dyspeptic,  learn  to  imagine  that  a 
thousand  things  suit  his  nature,  which  God  made  only 
for  pigs  and  reptiles.  God  has  taught  us  his  truth  by  his 
works,  his  providence,  and  his  word  ;  and  if  human  ar- 
rogance cannot  be  satisfied  with  this,  it  had  better  re- 


HUMAN    TESTIMONY.  11? 

main  unsatisfied.  At  least  it  is  probable  that  it  will,  at 
any  rate.  And  yet  all  fanatics  and  all  enthusiasts,  of 
all  ages,  make  common  cause  here.  However  diverse 
in  all  else,  as  we  have  seen,  here  they  agree.  They  all 
know  that  their  own,  or  the  absurd  schemes  of  their 
leaders,  are  true,  either  because  God  has  personally  re- 
vealed it  to  them,  by  some  mystic  voice,  or  by  kindling 
up  some  holy  rapture  or  ferment  in  their  souls.  In  this 
common  den  of  inspiration,  we  find  monsters  of  all 
shapes  and  sizes,  from  Simeon  the  Stylite  to  Mad 
Thorn.  , 

In  these  rhapsodies  of  faith,  or  rather  of  folly,  every 
silly  figment  of  a  diseased  imagination  is  deemed  either 
a  voice  or  an  impulse  from  God ;  and  the  more  absurd 
the  better,  provided  it  chance-  to  chime  harmoniously 
with  the  ruling  impulses  or  prevailing  delirium  of  the 
hour.  It  is  impossible  to  reason  against  this  folly,  for 
it  defies  all  reason  in  the  outset.  The  overweaning 
self-conceit,  and  the  total  paralysis  of  all  the  powers  of 
reason,  which  such  a  morbid  state  of  mind  both  engen- 
ders and  implies,  render  all  hopeless  and  all  useless, 
while  the  spell  is  on,  save  handcuffs  and  the  madhouse. 

4.  The  fourth  false  ground  of  religious  belief  is  mere 
human  testimony,  or  the  naked  "  dictum"  of  some  one 
or  more  of  our  fellow-men. 

This  subject  merits  a  careful  consideration.  We 
have  already  proved,  by  reasoning  from  past  experi- 
ence, that,  however  worthy  of  belief  the  human  race 
may  be  in  all  else,  in  matters  of  faith  they  have,  as  a 
race,  proved  themselves  liars,  and  utterly  unworthy  of 
all  credit. 

We  shall  see,  now,  that  the  exceptions  only  serve  to 
confirm  the  rule,  God  himself  being  witness. 


118        god's  judgment  of  human  testimony. 

The  facts  are  as  follows.  Jesus  Christ,  the  Son  of 
God  and  Saviour  of  men,  came  on  earth  and  fulfilled 
all  the  leading  prophecies  of  the  Jews,  before  their  own 
eyes.  They  and  the  world  had  long  and  anxiously 
awaited  his  appearance.  They  were  eye-witnesses  to 
the  immaculate  purity  of  his  life.  They  listened  to  all 
the  "  gracious  words  that  came  out  of  his  mouth." 
He  lived,  spake,  and  acted  as  never  did  man  before. 

If  now,  in  any  case,  it  could  be  reasonable  to  require 
men  to  believe^on  the  mere  testimony  of  any  thing  in 
human  form,  was  it  not  reasonable  to  demand  that  they 
should  take  Christ  at  his  word  ? 

Would  not  even  the  Deist  admit,  that  his  testimony, 
in  such  a  case,  and  under  such  circumstances,  was  far 
more  credible  than  the  combined  testimony  of  the  whole 
human  race  together  ?  And  yet,  what  does  he  say  ? 
John,  x.  37  :  "  If  I  do  not  the  works  of  my  Father, 
(referring  to  his  miracles,)  believe  me  not."  "  If  I  tes- 
tify of  myself,  my  testimony  is  not  true,"  (that  is,  not 
credible.)  Again,  John,  xv.  24  :  "  If  I  had  not  done 
among  them  the  works  which  none  other  man  did,  they 
had  not  had  sin,"  (that  is,  they  would  have  been  under 
no  obligation  to  believe.)  Acts,  ii.  22  :  "  Jesus,  ap- 
proved [accredited]  of  God  by  miracles,  and  wonders, 
and  signs,  which  God  did  by  him." 

If,  then,  the  eternal  God  of  all  reason  and  truth  deem- 
ed it  necessary  to  accredit  even  his  own  Son,  the  fore- 
told and  long-expected  Messiah,  by  miracles  and  won- 
ders, and  signs  from  heaven  above  and  earth  beneath, 
before  requiring  even  the  Jews  to  believe  on  him ;  and 
if  Jesus  himself  commanded  them  not  take  his  word — 
not  to  believe  on  him — without  these  vouchers  of  his 
veracity,  what   a  comment  is  this  on  the  utter   in- 


BELIEVING  IN  AND  ON  ACCOUNT  OF  TESTIMONY.      119 

credibility  of  the  human  race  in  matters  of  faith,  God 
and  Christ  themselves  being  judges  ?  And  have  they 
suffered  this  momentous  revelation  of  divine  truth,  after 
all  this  agony  of  effort  to  plant  its  credibility  on  higher 
ground,  to  fall  back  on  mere  depraved  human  testimo- 
ny ?  If  so,  it  is  again  on  the  level  with  all  other  books. 
We  cannot  receive  it,  as  from  God,  on  that  ground 
alone.  And  has  this  same  God,  who  deemed  it  unrea- 
sonable to  ask  men  to  take  his  Son  at  his  word,  merely 
because  found  in  human  form,  really  commanded  them 
to  believe  the  bare  dictum  of  Joe  Smith,  on  pain  of 
eternal  damnation  !  !  ! 

At  all  events,  God,  who  knew  beforehand  the  history 
of  man,  has,  in  these  and  in  numerous  other  passages 
of  scripture,  practically  estimated  human  testimony  in 
religion,  and  human  opinion,  at  precisely  what  they  are 
worth.  He  has  dealt  with  men  as  a  race  of  liars,  un- 
worthy of  the  smallest  credit  in  faith,  merely  because 
they  are  so. 

But  though  God  has  in  fact  thus  decided  that  mere 
human  testimony  is  no  proof  of  the  divine  origin  of 
any  scheme  of  faith,  he  has  not  decided  that  human 
testimony  is  of  no  use  in  transmitting  a  genuine  scheme 
of  faith.  Neither  shall  we;  and  here  we  will  make 
some  distinctions  indicative  of  that  utility. 

1.  We  should  distinguish  carefully  between  believ- 
ing in  human  testimony  and  believing  on  account  of 
human  testimony.  We  believe  in  the  testimony  of  one 
or  more  of  any  number  of  notorious  liars  when  we  are 
compelled,  from  knowledge  derived  from  other  sources, 
to  admit  that  that  testimony  is  true,  and  that  one  out  of 
a  multitude  of  knaves  has  thus  unexpectedly  been 
proved  a  man  of  truth.     But  we  do  not  believe  on  ac- 


120        INTERESTED  AND  DISINTERESTED  TESTIMONY. 

count  of  such  testimony.  Just  so  we  believe  in  the 
testimony  of  the  evangelists ;  but  we  do  not  believe 
their  statements  on  account  of  their  testimony,  or  any 
other  human  testimony  whatever.  It  is  indeed  true, 
that  many  sensible  and  eloquent  men  have  maintained 
that  our  belief  in  Christianity  is  based  on  the  testimony 
of  the  evangelists  and  others,  and  have  proceeded  to 
argue  its  truth  professedly  on  that  ground  alone.  They 
set  themselves,  however,  at  once  to  showing  from 
facts,  that  the  testimony  of  these  witnesses  is  and  must 
be  true,  thus  evincing  that  they  themselves  do  not  be- 
lieve on  account  of  their  mere  testimony,  but  only  that 
they  believe  in  their  testimony,  when  they  find  that  Al- 
mighty God,  by  his  providence  and  his  prophecies,  has 
placed  their  testimony  beyond  the  possibility  of  reason- 
able doubt.  This  is  indeed  believing  in,  but  not  on 
account  of  human  testimony. 

2.  We  should  distinguish  between  the  testimony  of 
interested  and  disinterested  witnesses. 

It  is  a  maxim  both  of  common  law  and  of  common 
sense,  that  the  testimony  of  all  interested  witnesses 
should  be  rejected  in  evidence,  whatever  their  previous 
character  for  veracity.  Jesus  Christ,  as  we  have  seen, 
did  not  exempt  himself  from  the  rule.  Nor  will  he  ex- 
empt any  of  his  followers,  or  attempt  to  transmit  a 
revelation  on  such  grounds  as  to  require  their  exemp- 
tion, either  in  whole  or  in  part.  On  this  ground  the 
testimony  of  the  avowed  enemies  or  the  indifferent 
spectators  of  any  new  scheme  of  faith  may  be  taken 
for  what  it  is  worth,  more  or  less,  but  the  mere  uncorrob- 
orated testimony  of  any  one  or  all  of  its  partisans  and 
friends,  touching  any  fundamental  point  of  its  credibility, 
we   set   down  for  nothing.     It   is  good  for  nothing. 


DIRECT    AND    INCIDENTAL    TESTIMONY.  121 

Aside  from  the  general  corruption  and  incredibility  of 
the  race,  in  which  we  must  presume  that  they  partici- 
pate, until  the  contrary  is  shown,  they  are  interested 
witnesses,  not  to  the  amount  of  a  few  dollars  only,  but 
to  the  amount  of  all  they  have  on  earth  and  in  heaven, 
if  they  are  sincere.  If  there  were  no  other  proofs  of 
Christ's  mission  and  miracles  than  the  bare  narrations 
of  his  followers,  nobody  but  a  lunatic  could  believe  one 
word  of  it. 

We  should  distinguish  between  direct  and  incidental 
testimony,  both  in  friends  and  foes. 

When  there  is  an  evident  design  either  to  confirm  or 
to  overthrow  a  new  faith,  by  the  testimony  given,  that 
fact  in  itself  diminishes  its  credibility,  even  when  the 
witness  is  in  other  respects  unexceptionable.  Inciden- 
tal testimony  which  springs  up  spontaneously,  and  evi- 
dently without  any  such  design,  is  of  far  more  value. 

In  any  matter  of  miracle  or  faith  the  direct  testimony 
of  friends  to  its  credibility  is  of  no  avail  whatever,  un- 
less corroborated  and  sustained  by  other  known  and  ad- 
mitted facts.  The  incidental  testimony  of  friends  is 
less  exceptionable,  while  the  incidental  testimony  of 
enemies,  of  credible  capacity,  is  of  more  value  still. 
But  no  array  of  such  mere  testimony  could  render  any 
revelation  or  miracle  credible,  from  age  to  age,  without 
the  constant  and  efficient  interposition  of  the  sus- 
taining and  corroborating  evidence  of  Divine  Provi- 
dence. Hence  the  burden  of  proof  must  rest,  from  age 
to  age,  on  God,  as  well  as  begin  with  him.  This  proof 
Christianity  alone  is  enabled  to  exhibit. 

With  these  distinctions  in  view,  then,  we  do  not  deny 
that  the  direct,  positive  testimony  of  friends  may  be  of 
great  use  in  a  new  and  credible  scheme  of  faith ;  but 

6 


122  DIRECT    AND    INCIDENTAL   TESTIMONY* 

we  do  deny  that  such  testimony,  however  much  or 
little,  can  ever  make  any  professedly  new  revelation 
from  God  in  the  least  degree  credible.  And  the  more 
desperate  the  attempt  to  multiply  converts  and  wit- 
nesses on  such  ground,  the  more  utterly  incredible  it 
becomes  ;  for  it  only  more  clearly  betrays  the  artifice 
and  uneasiness  of  its  detestable  and  hypocritical  au- 
thors and  founders.  There  is  not  a  competent  court 
in  Christendom  that  would  consent  to  arbitrate  five  dol- 
lars on  any  such  ground.  For,  aside  from  the  fact  that 
the  temptations  are  so  great,  that  men  in  all  ages  and 
climes  have  been  wont  to  lie  about  new  revelations, 
there  is  no  subject  on  which  the  majority  of  men  are 
so  easily  duped  as  on  this  same  all-important  and 
awfully  solemn  subject  of  religion.  And  when  a  man's 
love  of  the  marvellous  is  once  thoroughly  excited, 
the  religious  elements  of  his  nature  utterly  crazed 
and  distracted  by  new  hopes,  new  alarms,  new  prodi- 
gies, and  new  phantasms,  it  is  impossible  to  say  what 
he  may  not  see,  and  hear,  and  feel,  and  bear  witness  to. 
The  honest,  or  at  least  the  undesigning  aberrations  of 
the  human  mind  in  such  circumstances,  surpass  all  cre- 
dulity and  defy  all  philosophy  ;  and  it  is  absolutely 
certain  that  the  all-wise  and  omnipotent  God  never 
could  have  resorted  to  the  contemptible  expedient  of 
suspending  the  eternal  salvation  of  a  depraved  race  on 
the  bare  testimony  of  their  confederates  in  guilt.  Nor 
would  he  attempt  to  prop  up  the  rotten  credibility  of 
one  selfish  and  depraved  human  being  by  the  naked 
testimony  of  others  notoriously  just  as  depraved.  If 
Christianity  be  indeed  a  revelation  from  the  true  God 
of  the  universe,  such  a  miserable  expedient  on  the  very 
face  of  it  would  destroy  its  credibility.     And  if  Chris- 


PUERILITY    OF    SKEPTICS.  123 

tianity  is  not  credible,  surely  there  is  not,  and  cannot 
be,  any  other  revelation  which  is ;  for  its  credibility  was 
never  staked  for  a  single  moment  on  mere  human  tes- 
timony, but  it  has  been  sustained  from  age  to  age, 
throughout  the  entire  history  of  the  world,  by  the  di- 
rect, obvious,  and  signal  interposition  of  God  at  every 
step ;  and  if  these  signs  all  fail,  no  other  conceivable,  if 
any  possible,  signs  can  avail.  At  any  rate  the  world 
must  be  in  its  dotage  indeed,  before  it  can  accept  any 
lower  proof;  and  it  ought  to  be  consigned  to  a  mad- 
house if  it  demands  higher. 

But  how  shall  a  man  render  his  professed  revelations 
credible?  He  cannot  do  it.  It  is  impossible.  He 
must,  if  honest,  throw  that  responsibility  back  upon 
God,  who  alone  can  sustain  it.  And  if  a  pretended 
prophet  evinces  any  reluctance  to  do  this,  and  attempts 
to  prop  himself  upon  mere  human  testimony,  it  is  de- 
monstrable proof  that  he  is  a  knave  ;  for  if  the  whole 
human  race  should  combine,  to  a  man,  aided  by  all  bad 
angels,  they  could  not  render  a  professed  revelation 
from  God  in  the  least  degree  credible.  God  the  om- 
nipotent, the  all-wise,  and  all-controlling,  alone  can  do 
that  work. 

How  ineffably  silly,  then,  to  compare  that  revelation 
which  God  has  made  with  any  other  which  ever  was 
or  ever  can  be  made  !  Deists  often  speak  of  distrust- 
ing human  testimony,  as  a  ground  of  religious  belief. 
They  are  right.  It  is  a  thousand-fold  more  unworthy 
of  confidence  than  even  they  have  ever  claimed  it  to 
be ;  and  if  they  would  be  as  careful  in  distrusting  the 
vile  originators  of  their  fanatical  doubts,  as  they  are  of 
distrusting  St.  Paul,  or  John,  there  would  be  both  sense 
and  consistency  in  their  pretensions.     As  it  is,  they  are 


124  PUERILITY  OF  SKEPTICS. 

usually  the  greatest  of  all  dupes.  The  great  names 
found  in  their  ranks  no  more  shelter  them  from  this 
charge,  than  they  do  other  fanatics,  who  can  plead  the 
same  exemption  on  the  same  ground.  Coincident  insan- 
ity in  faith  and  skill  in  science  are  common  in  all  fac- 
tions, all  parties,  all  sects,  and  all  ages.  The  insanity 
of  the  skeptic  is  none  the  more  rational,  because  more 
common :  his  dupes  are  none  the  less  dupes,  because 
they  are  the  dupes  of  an  unbeliever,  so  called. 

Notwithstanding  these  very  obvious  considerations, 
all  forms,  both  of  false  religion  and  of  professed  irreli- 
gion,  have  in  reality  rested  their  claims  to  credibility 
on  this  rotten  foundation  of  human  testimony,  or  au- 
thority. Christianity  is  the  only  exception  the  world 
has  ever  seen ;  and  much  that  is  called  Christian  is  as 
rank  fanaticism,  as  are  paganism,  Mohammedanism,  or 
infidelity. 

It  will  be  observed,  that  the  question  before  us  is  not 
what  use  children,  or  idiots,  or  ignorant  persons,  or 
others  necessitated  to  submit  to  authority,  are  to  make 
of  human  testimony  ;  but  what  use  a  man  of  mature 
years,  who  pretends  to  be  governed  by  his  reason, 
ought  to  make  of  it.  If  others  may  be  compelled  to 
lean  on  him,  surely  he  ought  not  to  lean  on  a  cobweb 
or  a  rush.  The  strong  must  rest  on  reason  and  legiti- 
mate evidence,  before  even  the  weak  can  repose  with 
safety  on  authority.  The  firm  and  unyielding  bones 
and  sinews  of  the  father  can  alone  bear  and  sustain  the 
relaxed  weakness  of  the  infant.  So  God  ordains — 
blessed  be  his  name  !  The  palsied  dotage  of  human 
credulity  is  unfit  for  even  the  nursery  of  faith.  How  un- 
equal then  to  its  battles,  sieges,  vicissitudes,  and  wars  ! 

III.  Having  thus  briefly  noticed  some  of  the  false 


TRUE  GROUND  OF  BELIEF.  125 

grounds  of  faith,  we  will  now  consider  the  only  true 
ground  on  which  a  professed  revelation  from  God  can 
be  rendered  worthy  of  the  least  credit. 

But  before  advancing  to  this  topic,  it  is  needful  first 
to  advert  to  the  proofs  of  the  existence  of  a  Supreme 
Being ;  and  to  show  that  this  does  not  rest,  either  in 
whole  or  in  part,  on  mere  human  testimony,  as  many 
fanatical  sects  pretend. 

The  main  proof  of  the  existence  of  the  Supreme 
Being  is  three-fold. 

1.  The  universal  and  instinctive  conceptions  and  ten- 
dencies of  the  human  race,  in  all  ages.  No  rational 
account  can  be  given  of  the  instinct  of  faith,  of  which 
we  have  spoken,  without  admitting  the  being  of  its 
prime  object,  God.  Man  is  so  made,  that  in  all  the  ap- 
propriate circumstances  of  his  being  he  feels  that  there 
is  a  God,  and  cannot  help  it,  without  perverting  and  de- 
grading his  nature. 

2.  Inference  from  known  facts.  We  know  that  the 
universe  around  us  exists.  We  know  also,  equally 
well,  that  either  it  has  in  some  past  time  sprung  forth 
from  nothing,  or  else  it  has  existed  from  all  eternity  in 
a  successive  series  of  events,  such  as  we  now  behold, 
or,  that  some  supreme  intelligent  being  created  it. 

The  first  supposition  is  on  the  face  of  it  absurd  ;  the 
second  is  contrary  to  all  known  facts — to  the  known 
history  and  progress  of  human  beings,  and  human  lan- 
guage, and  to  all  known  astronomical  and  geological 
facts.  Every  mountain  and  every  clod  demonstrates 
its  falsehood ;  for  eternity  would  have  reduced  all  to 
the  same  dead  and  muddy  level.  The  last  supposition 
is  therefore  the  only  possible  one :  viz,  the  universe  be- 
gan, and  God  began  it. 


126  PERSONAL  EXPERIENCE. 

3.  All  things,  within  and  around  us,  are  governed  by 
laws,  which  imply  a  lawgiver !  They  are  also  full  of  de- 
sign, which  necessarily  implies  a  designer. 

Infidels  wrangle  against  these  proofs ;  they  talk  large : 
let  them  talk.  Fanatics  also  frequently  reject  it.  They 
want  to  stake  our  belief  in  the  being  of  a  God  solely 
on  testimony,  or  direct  revelation,  because  if  their  fol- 
lowers can  be  made  to  believe  without  a  reason  here, 
they  will  be  better  prepared  to  swallow  down  their 
dogmas  on  other  points  of  pretended  revelation,  or  in- 
terpretation of  admitted  revelations,  on  the  ground  of 
the  mere  dictum  of  their  leaders.  Moreover,  by  making 
every  thing  in  religion  depend  both  for  its  proof  and 
importance  on  positive  instruction,  mummeries  and  cer- 
emonies can  more  easily  be  placed  on  the  same  level 
with  moral  duties.  This  generally  suits  the  design  of 
those  learned  or  artful  knaves,  who  teach  only  that 
fools  may  believe. 

The  true  grounds  of  the  credibility  of  a  revelation 
from  God  are  in  general  two-fold. 

1.  Personal  experience,  or  individual  certainty  of 
its  truth,  derived  from  consciousness,  observation,  and 
experience. 

2.  Necessary  and  inevitable  logical  inference 
from  facts  which  we  know  and  admit ;  that  such  a 
revelation  must  have  come  from  God  as  its  author,  be- 
cause all  other  suppositions  involve  in  themselves  an 
absurdity,  or  a  train  of  absurdities. 

The  personal  experience  to  which  I  refer  is  not  based, 
either  in  whole  or  in  part,  on  any  supernatural  or  fa- 
natical light,  or  impulse,  or  any  mystical  or  mysterious 
commotion  or  excitement  of  soul  whatever ;  but  on  a 
calm,  deliberate,  and  rigidly  philosophical  knowledge 


PERSONAL  EXPERIENCE.  127 

of  the  fact,  that  such  a  professed  revelation  agrees  with, 
and  is  adapted  to,  all  the  known  laws  and  necessities 
of  both  matter  and  mind :  in  short,  to  all  the  laws  and 
exigencies  of  our  being,  and  that  it  is  therefore  calcu- 
lated to  promote  in  the  highest  degree,  not  only  our 
own  individual  well-being,  but  all  the  great  social,  civil, 
and  religious  interests  of  the  human  race ;  insomuch 
that  none  can  attain  either  the  highest  excellence,  or  the 
greatest  happiness  of  which  human  nature  is  capable, 
without  a  proper  practical  regard  to  its  doctrines  and 
laws. 

This  experience  shows  that  such  a  revelation  must 
have  come,  either  directly  or  indirectly,  from  God,  the 
author  of  all  beneficence  and  truth. 

Now  the  sole  grand  end  of  Christianity,  from  first  to 
last,  is  to  induce  all  men  to  strive  to  become,  in  moral 
temper  and  character,  like  its  great  archetype  and 
founder,  Jesus  Christ.  All  else  are  merely  the  neces- 
sary means  to  that  sole  grand  end. 

But  every  man,  of  even  tolerable  common  sense, 
who  will  throw  aside  his  passions  and  prejudices,  and 
subject  himself  solely  to  his  reason,  will  immediately 
discover  from  his  own  personal  observation  and  expe- 
rience the  following  things. 

1.  Neither  individuals  nor  communities  can  ever  at- 
tain the  highest  excellence,  or  the  greatest  happiness, 
of  which  their  nature  and  condition  are  capable,  with- 
out an  honest  and  thorough  attempt  to  become  such,  in 
their  moral  character  and  feelings,  as  Jesus  Christ  was  ; 
and  the  nearer  they  approximate  to  this  standard  of 
moral  purity,  the  greater  will  be  their  share  of  both 
social  safety  and  personal  bliss,  and  the  further  they 
depart  from  it,  the  greater  the  ruin  that  ensues,  both  to 
them  and  their  fellows. 


128  INHERENT  TRUTH  OF  CHRISTIANITY. 

2.  He  will  discover  from  his  own  personal  experi- 
ence that  this  moral  purity  and  elevation  of  character 
cannot  be  obtained,  even  in  any  degree,  without  ad- 
mitting all  the  fundamental  doctrines,  submitting  him- 
self to  all  the  influences,  and  diligently  employing  all 
the  means  commended  to  his  notice  in  the  gospel.  The 
more  closely  he  follows  and  believes  the  truths  therein 
contained,  the  greater  his  success  in  attaining  this  moral 
purity  and  its  attendant  blessings  ;  while  the  more  he 
disregards  these  truths,  the  more  signal  will  be  his  fail- 
ure, and  the  more  corrupt  and  miserable  his  career. 

In  order  to  come  to  this  conclusion,  he  needs  to  do 
but  three  things. 

1.  Consider  what  Christianity,  even  with  all  its  cor- 
ruptions and  abominable  perversions,  has  effected,  and 
is  at  this  moment  effecting,  for  Christendom,  as  com- 
pared with  the  rest  of  the  world. 

2.  Consider  what  sort  of  a  community  that  would 
be,  in  which  all  its  members  were  in  moral  temper  and 
character  just  like  Jesus  Christ. 

3.  Consider  what  changes  must  be  made  in  himself, 
before  he  can  become  such  ;  what  means  are  requisite, 
and  what  the  amount  of  obligation  resting  upon  him, 
as  well  as  on  all  others. 

We  hope  it  will  be  understood  here  that  we  are  re- 
ferring the  inquirer  to  no  sect,  no  creed,  and  no  expo- 
sition of  Christianity,  either  ancient  or  modern,  but  to 
the  New  Testament  itself,  as  it  is  ;  and  should  he  hon- 
estly attempt  to  live  in  obedience  to  pure  reason,  and 
in  strict  accordance  with  the  laws  of  that  moral  nature 
which  God  has  given  him,  he  will  find,  from  individual 
experience,  two  things  more  : 

1.  He  will  be  compelled  to  make  honest  and  unre- 


INHERENT  TRUTH  OF  CHRISTIANITY.  129 

mitting  efforts  to  become,  in  moral  temper  and  charac- 
ter, like  Jesus  Christ,  the  only  perfect  model  of  humanity. 

2.  He  will  find  himself  under  an  equal  necessity  to 
take  the  New  Testament  for  his  guide. 

Such  facts  prove  that  Christianity  is  true,  whether 
prom  God  or  not  ;  and  secondly,  reason  alone  teaches 
that  such  important  truth  must  have  come,  either  directly 
or  indirectly,  from  God  ;  and  also,  that  any  scheme  of 
religion  which  cannot  endure  these  tests  is  false,  and 
cannot  be  from  God. 

The  first  grand  question,  as  regards  the  New  Testa- 
ment, is  not  a  question  respecting  either  its  origin  or 
authorship  ;  but  it  is  a  question  which  pertains,  funda- 
mentally, to  that  and  all  other  books,  viz — Is  it  true  ? 
Are  its  fundamental  doctrines  and  precepts  true  doc- 
trines and  useful  precepts  ?  Does  the  book  contain  and 
develop  the  great  fundamental  laws  and  principles  of 
the  moral  and  social  well-being  of  the  human  race,  or 
does  it  not  ?  If  so,  whatever  of  truth  it  does  contain 
is  binding  on  the  conscience  of  the  human  race,  come 
from  what  source  or  through  what  hands  it  may,  be- 
cause IT  IS  TRUTH. 

Now  we  might  safely  permit  the  sectarian,  the  dog- 
matist, and  the  deist,  each  and  all,  to  take  their  shears, 
and  cut  from  the  Bible  every  text  which  has  been  either 
doubted,  or  disputed,  or  slandered,  or  ridiculed;  and 
when  they  had,  one  and  all,  cut  away  until  they  were 
satisfied,  we  might  take  the  remaining  texts,  more  or 
less,  together  with  such  others  as  the  simple  light  of 
reason,  in  this  age  of  the  world,  would  compel  them  to 
restore  and  admit  as  true  ;  and  if  we  should  throw  them 
at  random,  thus  mutilated  and  tattered,  without  order 
or  arrangement,  among  any  barbarous  race  on  earth, 
6* 


130  OBJECTIONS,  INTERPOLATIONS,  ETC 

they  would,  if  read,  believed,  and  obeyed,  exert  a  more 
energetic  reforming  influence  upon  their  character  and 
destiny,  than  all  the  other  books  the  world  has  ever 
seen,  which  have  neither  drank  nor  stolen  from  this  same 
fountain :  for  they  would  still  contain  more  important 
moral  truth,  adapted  to  the  nature  and  necessities  of 
man,  than  all  other  books,  not  emanating  from  the  same 
original  source.  But  how  is  it  with  the  Koran,  the 
Book  of  Mormon,  and  the  moral  speculations  of  deists 
and  skeptics  ?  Only  take  away  what  their  authors  have 
manifestly  stolen  from  the  Bible,  and  there  is  nothing 
of  moral  truth  remaining ;  their  moral  power  is  anni- 
hilated, and  they  become  vain  speculations  or  baseless 
fancies. 

This  single  broad  view  of  the  subject  renders  the 
difference  between  the  Bible  and  all  pretended  reve- 
lations sufficiently  apparent,  and  the  ordinary  ob- 
jections, sophisms,  and  cavils  of  skeptics,  sufficiently 
frivolous  and  contemptible  ?  Suppose  that  it  could  be 
demonstrated  that  half  of  the  Bible  was  really  made 
up  of  human  interpolations,  errors,  contradictions,  and 
absurdities,  what  then?  Would  that  alter  the  truth  of 
the  other  half  ?  No  :  for  it  might  still  be  shown,  that, 
in  that  other  half,  there  was  more  renovating,  soul- 
r'c  forming,  moral  truth,  demonstrable  to  reason,  and  in- 
dispensable to  man,  than  in  all  the  other  books  in  the 
world  which  have  neither  stolen  nor  borrowed  from 
its  light.  If  we  sincerely  want  the  religion  of  nature 
then,  we  must,  after  all,  take  it  from  the  Bible,  whatever 
may  have  been  its  origin,  because  there,  and  there 
alone,  is  found  the  religion  of  nature — a  religion  adapted 
to  human  nature  as  it  actually  is.  Can  any  other  book, 
either  moral  or  religious,  plead  the  same  prerogative, 


PROOFS  FROM  INEVITABLE  INFERENCE.  131 

on  the  same  ground  ?     If  so,  where  is  it  ?     Show  it  to 
us,  and  we  will  at  once  believe  it  to  be  from  God. 

These  and  similar  considerations,  derived  from  our 
own  individual  consciousness,  observation,  and  expe- 
rience, assure  us  that  the  Bible  is  substantially  true,  and, 
like  all  other  truth,  from  God,  whether  directly  or  not. 
We  find  its  truths  adapted  to  the  laws  and  necessities 
of  our  own  moral  nature,  and  to  the  highest  well-being 
of  human  nature  as  such. 

In  the  books  of  impostors  we  find  no  such  thing,  ex- 
cept in  the  fragments  or  scattered  thoughts  evidently 
derived  from  the  Bible. 

2.  We  will  now  briefly  advert  to  a  very  few  of  the 
sources  from  which  a  professed  revelation  from  God 
may  derive  demonstrable  proofs  of  its  authority,  by 
necessary  and  by  inevitable  logical  inference  from  known 
and  admitted  facts. 

By  such  inference,  we  intend  no  mere  conjecture,  no 
tame  probabilities,  but  an  absolute  necessity,  imposed 
upon  us  by  the  God  of  nature  and  of  mind,  himself,  of 
inferring  and  believing  one  thing  from  seeing  or  ad- 
mitting another,  or  else  of  giving  up  our  claim  to  be 
considered  rational  beings.  As,  for  example,  when  we 
see  a  smoke,  we  inevitably,  if  not  insane,  infer  a  fire  ; 
and  when  we  see  a  temple  or  a  ship,  we  infer  the 
existence  of  architects,  worship,  water,  winds,  &c, 
because  we  know  that  one  of  these  things  could  not 
exist  without  the  others,  as  certainly  as  we  know  the 
existence  of  the  things  we  behold. 

This  chain  of  logical  inference,  of  course,  embraces 
all  those  considerations  which  are  usually  treated  of 
under  the  separate  heads  wof  miracle,  prophecy,  and 
providence.  But,  as  it  is  not  our  present  design  to  write 


132  MODE  OF  FURNISHING   FACTS  TO  MEN. 

a  treatise  on  the  evidences  of  revelation,  we  shall  only 
indicate  the  general  principles  upon  which  this  great 
law  of  inference  proceeds,  in  determining  the  divine 
authority  of  a  genuine  revelation,  and  summarily  illus- 
trate it  by  citing  a  few  from  the  multitude  of  examples 
which  God  has  furnished  to  every  age. 

It  is  obvious  that  there  are  here  two  things  to  be  con- 
sidered. First — In  what  manner  the  Deity  must  pro- 
ceed, in  order  to  furnish  the  human  race  with  facts  from 
which  they  will  be  compelled  to  make  the  necessary 
inference.  Second — In  what  manner  man  is  to  proceed, 
in  making  those  inferences,  in  each  successive  age ;  and 
it  will  be  found  that  man  must  begin  where  God  ends. 
He  must  take  nothing  for  granted  which -is  not  self- 
evident,  and  believe  nothing  until  compelled  to  believe 
by  the  most  rigorous  principles  of  logic. 

1.  First,  then,  God  must  begin  to  furnish  facts,  as 
proof  by  miracle,  or  other  supernatural  means,  as  soon 
as,  or  rather  before,  belief  is  required  ;  and  these  facts 
must,  in  the  outset,  be  exhibited  to  all  who  are  required 
to  believe,  whether  friends  or  foes,  just  as  the  Egyptian 
miracles,  in  fact,  were  exhibited  under  Moses.  It  must 
not  be  done  in  secret,  nor  in  a  party,  but  with  a  "  high 
hand  and  an  outstretched  arm,"  so  that  all  may  know, 
at  once,  that  it  is  God,  and  not  man. 

2.  Such  a  commencement  renders  all  subsequent 
revelations  and  divine  interpositions,  obviously  forming 
a  part  of  the  same  grand  scheme,  credible  on  a  far  less 
amount  of  proof  than  would  be  required  to  authenti- 
cate them,  if  they  stood  disconnected,  either  really  or 
apparently,  from  any  such  scheme.  The  natural  and 
inevitable  inference  of  the  human  mind,  that  God  will 


MODE  OF  EXPLAINING  FACTS.  133 

complete  what  he  has  begun,  in  itself  furnishes  a  part 
of  the  necessary  proof  in  all  subsequent  cases. 

3.  But  these  original  events,  themselves,  would  be- 
come utterly  incredible,  if  left  to  stand  on  mere  human 
testimony,  however  much  or  little.  On  the  contrary, 
miracles,  in  the  limited  sense  of  that  term,  if  continued 
from  age  to  age,  in  all  lands,  would  lose  their  power  of 
impression,  and  thus  annihilate  their  own  force,  aside 
from  abstracting  seriously  and  irreparably  from  the 
harmony  of  providence  and  well-being  of  man.  They 
are  a  sort  of  moral  volcanoes,  which,  if  diffused  too 
widely,  must  consume  and  annihilate  our  reason,  in- 
stead of  enlightening  it.  Hence,  to  relieve  both  of  these 
difficulties,  after  a  revelation  has  once  been  rendered 
credible  and  complete,  by  such  signal  interpositions  of 
direct  omnipotence,  its  credibility  must  be  sustained, 
from  age  to  age,  by  subsequent  miracles,  or  by  the  ex- 
hibition of  peculiar  institutions,  monuments,  memorials, 
prophecies,  and  providences,  which  none  but  God  could 
originate  and  control ;  and  it  must  never  be  left  to  rest, 
for  a  single  moment,  on  the  mere  uncorroborated  testi- 
mony of  man. 

It  is  not  needful  to  contend  that  this  is  the  only  way 
God  could  render  a  revelation  credible  to  man,  but  only 
that  this  is  one  way,  at  once  natural  and  rational,  and 
that  any  mode  whatever,  less  efficient,  would  be  in- 
credible ;  while  it  is  believed  that  any  other  mode  what- 
ever will  be  found,  in  a  moral  sense,  either  unnatural 
or  totally  irrational ;  but  these  evidences,  Christianity, 
and  Christianity  alone,  is  enabled  to  exhibit. 

God  commenced  the  great  enterprise  under  Moses 
in  Egypt  in  accordance  with  the  first  condition,  and 
has  prosecuted  it  down  to  our  own  age,  by  the  con- 


134  ORIGIN    OF    THE    BIBLE. 

tinued  exhibition  of  institutions,  monuments,  prophecies, 
and  providences,  obvious,  impressive,  multiform,  and 
inexplicable  on  any  other  ground,  except  on  the  ground 
that  the  God  of  nature  and  providence  is  also  the  God 
of  the  Bible.  This,  then,  is  the  mode  which  God  has 
taken  to  furnish  us  with  facts  from  which  to  make  our 
inferences. 

2.  Our  next  inquiry  is  :  In  what  manner  are  we  to 
proceed  in  making  rational  inferences  from  these  facts? 

Our  answer  is,  we  are  to  begin  from  facts  which  we 
know  and  admit,  and  proceed,  as  in  all  other  cases, 
from  the  known  to  the  unknown.  Throwing  all  direct 
human  testimony  entirely  out  of  the  question,  as  being 
in  and  of  itself  no  rational  ground  of  belief,  either  in 
miracles  or  revelations,  we  should  take  facts-  before 
our  own  eyes,  and  attempt  rationally  to  account  for 
them  ;  and  we  shall  find  that  Almighty  God  has  bound 
the  most  trivial  events  of  our  own  age  and  our  own 
firesides  to  the  original  displays  of  his  miraculous 
power  on  the  banks  of  the  Nile,  and  in  the  land  of  Ju- 
dea,  by  a  chain  of  evidence  which  no  human  power  can 
break,  and  no  human  sophistry  dissolve. 

To  trace  all  the  links  and  branches  of  this  mysterious 
chain  is  the  work  of  ages  and  volumes  ;  we  can  only 
give  one  or  two  examples.  In  giving  these  examples 
we  shall  make  but  two  points  of  inquiry. 

1.  In  what  ages  of  the  world  did  the  several  books 
of  the  Bible  originate  ? 

2.  Is  God  responsible  for  their  truth  ? 

Now  I  hope  it  will  be  granted  that  every  man  of 
common  sense  knows  that  there  is  such  a  part  of  the 
world  as  Christendom,  in  which  he  lives  and  acts,  and 
that  this  said  Christendom  has  peculiar  institutions,  cus- 


ORIGIN    OF    THE    BIBLE.  135 

toms,  laws,  and  manners  which  control  his  own  destiny 
and  the  most  ordinary  occurrences  of  his  life.  But  all 
these  imply  the  previous  existence  and  belief  of  the 
Bible.  The  Bible  is  the  parent,  and  Christendom  is  the 
offspring ;  and  if  the  Bible  were  annihilated,  he  would 
be  compelled  either  to  make  or  imagine  another,  before 
he  could  explain  the  peculiar  institutions  and  manners 
of  his  own  country,  or  even  the  most  common  events 
of  his  life.  The  date  of  a  deed,  an  almanac,  a  copper, 
or  a  letter,  is  a  miracle,  if  Christ  did  not  live  eighteen 
hundred  years  ago ;  and  all  Christendom  is  a  miracle, 
if  he  4id  not,  at  some  time,  live  and  teach  as  the  Bible 
says  he  did.  So  in  any  previous  age,  since  the  coming 
of  Christ,  the  facts  of  the  Bible  have  been  admitted,  its 
doctrines  believed,  its  rites  and  ceremonies  practised, 
its  monuments  reared,  and  its  influences  felt  and  exhib- 
ited in  action  by  all  Christendom  ;  and  not  to  know  this 
with  absolute  certainty  by  direct  and  necessary  infer- 
ence from  facts  before  our  own  eyes,  is  either  not  to 
reason  at  all,  or  to  reason  like  a  maniac. 

Again ;  every  man  of  common  intelligence  knows 
that  there  is  now  scattered  abroad  over  the  face  of  the 
earth,  a  distinct  and  peculiar  people  called  the  Jews  ; 
having,  in  like  manner,  institutions,  laws,  and  manners 
peculiar  to  themselves,  and  making  both  their  past  his- 
tory and  present  condition,  in  and  of  themselves,  moral 
miracles  in  every  age  of  the  world.  Of  all  this  the 
Old  Testament  is  the  parent,  and  Judaism,  in  all  ages, 
is  but  the  offspring.  And  to  attempt  to  reason  upon 
the  actual  condition  of  Jews  and  Christians,  in  any  age 
of  the  world,  and  deny  the  substantial  historical  truths 
of  the  Bible,  is  as  absurd  as  it  would  be  to  attempt  to 
reason  upon  the  present  condition  of  Europe  without 


136  ORIGIN    OP   THE    BIBLE. 

admitting  the  substantial  truth  of  feudal  history,  or  on 
the  present  condition  of  the  United  States  without  ad- 
mitting the  history  of  the  revolution,  or  the  validity  of 
the  documents  of  the  continental  congress.  The  pre- 
vious existence  and  belief  of  the  Bible,  substantially  as 
we  now  have  it,  is  as  indispensable  to  the  existence  of 
Jews  and  Christians  in  the  world  as  the  Koran  is  to 
Mohammedans,  or  the  Book  of  Mormon  to  the  followers 
of  Smith.  To  admit  the  existence  of  Jews  and  Chris- 
tians, and  deny  that  Moses  and  Christ  lived  and  taught, 
as  they  have  reported,  is  the  same  sort  of  absurdity, 
both  in  kind  and  degree,  as  to  admit  the  existence  of 
Mohammedans  and  Mormons,  and  still  deny  that  Mo- 
hammed and  Smith  have  lived  and  taught,  as  repre- 
sented by  them.  Considering  the  peculiar  age  in  which 
Christ  lived,  the  extreme  singularity  of  his  character, 
and  the  overwhelming  influence  that  character  has  in 
fact  exerted  on  the  destinies  of  the  globe,  as  we  now 
see  it  with  our  own  eyes,  if  the  world  is  not  in  posses- 
sion of  the  substantial  truth  of  both  his  character  and 
doctrine,  (setting  aside  all  that  is  miraculous,)  just  as 
they  are  in  possession  of  the  substantial  history  and 
doctrines  of  Confucius,  Socrates,  Seneca,  Bacon,  Wash- 
ington, and  others,  that  fact  in  itself  is  a  moral  miracle, 
more  incredible  than  all  the  natural  miracles  of  the 
Bible,  and  all  the  legends  of  monks  and  of  Mormons. 
But  if  his  character  and  doctrines  are  thus  known  to 
the  world,  they  are  substantially  in  the  New  Testament, 
and  nowhere  else. 

True,  a  character  may  be  imagined.  But  a  purely 
imaginary  character  could  no  more  rule  the  globe  than 
it  could  create  one.  It  would  be  more  rational  to  sup- 
pose that  an  imaginary  phantom  created  the  universe, 


IS    GOD    RESPONSIBLE    FOR    THE    BIBLE?  137 

than  to  suppose  that  the  present  condition  of  the  hu- 
man race  resulted  from  any  other  influence  than  from 
that  of  such  a  character  and  being  as  Jesus  Christ  is 
represented  to  be  in  the  New  Testament,  both  living 
and  teaching  at  the  time  and  in  the  manner  he  is  rep- 
resented to  have  lived  and  taught.  This  point,  it  will 
be  noticed,  does  not  touch  the  truth  of  his  doctrines, 
but  only  the  great  fact,  that  they  were  promulgated 
and  believed  at  the  time,  and  substantially  in  the  man- 
ner reported.  We  are  brought  then  inevitably  to  this 
point — Can  we  rationally  account  for  the  appearance 
of  Smith,  of  Mohammed,  and  other  impostors,  and  the 
success  of  their  doctrines,  without  admitting  the  super- 
natural interposition  of  God  ?  Doubtless  we  can,  and 
therefore  ought  to  do  so.  But  can  we  rationally  ac- 
count for  the  appearance  of  Jesus  Christ  without  such 
admission  ?  We  shall  see.  This  will  bring  us  upon 
the  second  point,  viz : 

2.  Has  God  made  himself  responsible  for  the  substan- 
tial truth  of  Christianity,  as  we  now  have  it  in  the 
Bible  ? 

We  will  content  ourselves  with  the  lowest  possible 
view  of  the  character  of  Christ,  viz,  the  deist's  own  fa- 
vorite notion,  that  he  was  a  mere  man,  of  matchless 
moral  wisdom,  benevolence,  and  purity.  We  will  as- 
sume that  there  is  a  benevolent  God  in  heaven  who 
cares  for  the  general  well-being  of  man  on  earth.  We 
will  admit,  if  you  please,  that  he  neither  foresaw,  nor 
designed,  nor  planned  for  the  appearance  of  Christ  on 
earth  ;  that  the  event  took  him  by  entire  surprise,  but 
still  that  he  has  sufficient  capacity  to  estimate,  with  at 
least  tolerable  correctness,  the  true  value  of  any  given 
character  to  the  world  when  it  appears.     The  simple 


138  IS    GOD    RESPONSIBLE    FOR    THE    BIBLE? 

question,  then,  is  this:  Did  even  such  a  meager  Divinity 
as  we  have  described,  permit  such  a  character  of 
matchless  purity,  wisdom,  and  benevolence  to  appear, 
and  live,  and  die  on  earth,  beneath  the  continual  frowns 
of  his  providence,  without  any  attestation  of  his  divine 
complacence  in  his  immaculate  life  and  doctrines,  and 
thus  suffer  him  to  sink  among  the  general  herd  of  our 
guilty  race,  and  all  the  peculiar  moral  advantages  of 
that  character  to  be  lost  to  mankind  for  ever  ?  Or  did 
he  leave  man  to  supply  by  fraud  what  he  had  omitted 
to  grant  from  negligence  ?  There  can  be  but  one 
more  monstrous  supposition,  which  is,  that  the  God  of 
heaven  actually  foresaw,  and  designed,  and  planned  the 
appearance  of  Christ,  who  was  himself  peculiarly  near 
and  dear  to  him  on  the  ground  of  his  moral  excellence, 
if  on  no  other,  and  left  him  then  to  such  a  silent  and 
ignominious  life  and  death.  Analogous  cases  cannot  be 
found,  for  another  similar  character  never  appeared. 
And,  considering  the  good  which  even  a  corrupted 
Christianity  has  wrought  for  man,  and  what  we  now 
know  that  a  pure  Christianity  is  adapted  from  its  own 
nature  to  effect  for  human  weal,  such  a  supposition  is 
in  and  of  itself  more  absurd  and  incredible  than  that  all 
the  dead  should  have  leaped  from  their  graves,  the 
stars  from  their  thrones,  and  the  ocean  from  its  bed,  in 
attestation  of  the  divine  complacency  in  such  a  charac- 
ter and  doctrine ;  if  there  be  indeed  in  heaven  a  God 
who  cares  for  the  well-being  of  man  on  earth. 

But  once  admit  that  Christ  was  his  Son,  sent  on  pur- 
pose to  instruct  and  reform  the  world,  and  the  only 
possible  supposition  by  which  we  could  get  rid  of  mir- 
cles,  even  if  none  were  on  record,  would  be  too  child- 
ish and  contemptible  even  to  reason  against.     To  be- 


LAWS    OF    NATURE.  139 

lieve  that  God  made  Joe  Smith's  barges  with  a  hole  in 
the  bottom,  is  in  that  case  infinitely  more  rational  than 
to  believe  that  such  a  being  as  Jesus  Christ  appeared 
in  such  a  world  as  ours,  without  supernatural  eviden- 
ces of  the  divine  favor. 

It  is  true,  the  laws  of  nature  are  usually  held  steady 
and  uniform  in  their  operation  by  the  all- wise  Creator. 
But  for  what  end?  For  whose  benefit  has  God  decreed 
that  these  laws  of  nature  shall  be  held  thus  uniform  ? 
Is  it  merely  that  he  may  sit  and  gaze  in  eternal  wonder 
upon  tfye  ceaseless  whirl  of  this  vast  machinery,  as  the 
child  does  upon  his  top  ?  Or  is  it  for  the  benefit  of 
clods,  and  stones,  and  pigs  ?  or  for  the  good  of  moral 
beings  like  ourselves  ? 

Precisely  the  same  reason,  then,  which  induces  the 
Divine  Being  to  hold  the  laws  of  nature  steady  and  uni- 
form, in  all  other  cases,  should  impel  him  to  interrupt 
them,  whenever  that  same  good  of  moral  beings  re- 
quires it ;  and  to  fail  to  do  it  would  be  to  act  not  like  a 
Deity,  but  like  a  dunce.  And  if  such  a  crisis  did  not 
occur,  on  the  appearance  of  Christ  in  our  world,  one 
can  never  occur,  nor  even  be  imagined. 

The  ordinary  laws  of  the  moral  universe  as  much 
require  the  laws  of  physical  nature  to  be  interrupted  at 
such  a  crisis,  as  they  do  that  they  should  be  held  steady 
at  all  other  times.  At  that  crisis,  therefore,  there  must 
have  been  either  miracles  in  the  natural  world,  or  a 
still  greater  miracle  in  the  moral  world  ;  that  is,  the 
natural  and  indispensable  laws  of  the  moral  world  must 
have  been  at  once  interrupted  and  outraged  by  the 
Creator  himself,  so  far  as  we  can  see,  or  the  natural 
laws  of  the  physical  world  must  have  yielded  to  the 
necessity  of  the  occasion.     Possibly  such  an  infamous 


140  MORAL    NECESSITY    OF    MIRACLES. 

negligence  of  the  good  of  mankind,  had  it  occurred, 
might  have  been  concealed  from  our  view ;  but  it 
would  have  been  none  the  less  infamous  and  unworthy 
of  the  Deity.  And  even  if  the  innate  benevolent  na- 
ture of  that  blessed  Being  who  rules  over  all,  could  be 
imagined  to  allow  him  to  sit  in  silent  and  listless  negli- 
gence, in  such  a  momentous  era  as  that  of  the  birth  of 
Christ,  a  prudent  regard  to  his  honor  among  intelligent 
beings  must  have  impelled  him  to  action ;  and  to  act 
too  just  as  the  Scriptures  assert  that  he  did  act.  We 
need  not  talk  here  of  the  subsequent  perversions  of 
Christianity,  which  only  make  its  deep  and  unutterable 
utility  and  necessity  the  more  apparent.  Nor  is  it  of 
any  use  for  the  objector  to  tell  us  that  the  councils  and 
conduct  of  the  Creator  are  above  the  scrutiny  of  hu- 
man reason ;  for,  if  so,  he  may  work  miracles  as  well 
as  omit  them,  even  when  we  can  see  no  good  reason 
for  it. 

But  again,  all  the  miracles  of  the  Bible  were  ex- 
pressly designed  to  concentrate  around  the  person, 
character,  and  doctrines  of  Jesus  Christ.  They  all 
point,  like  so  many  finger-boards,  either  backward  or 
forward,  to  him,  who  alone  is  "  the  way,  and  the  truth, 
and  the  life  ;"  they  were  all  designed  either  to  prepare 
mankind  for  his  appearance,  or  to  complete  and  con- 
summate his  mission.  The  precise  thing,  therefore, 
which  renders  the  miracles  of  the  Scriptures  credible, 
is  the  appearance  and  character  of  Jesus  Christ.  With 
him  they  are  both  natural  and  necessary,  without  any 
human  testimony.  Without  him,  or  some  similar  char- 
acter, they  would  have  been  incredible,  on  any  amount 
of  mere  human  testimony  whatever.  We  believe,  there- 
fore, neither  the  doctrines  nor  the  miracles  of  the  Scrip- 


hume's  sophism,  141 

tures  on  account  of  human  testimony,  though  we  believe 
in  human  testimony,  when  we  have  first  rescued  that  tes- 
timony from  the  disregard  which  it  merits,  on  the  ground 
of  its  being  human  testimony  to  matters  of  faith.  What- 
ever human  testimony  God  has  not  enabled,  and  in  rea- 
son compelled  us,  thus  to  rescue  from  the  general  rule 
of  infamy,  deserves  only  our  utter  disregard,  be  it  much 
or  little. 

Hume's  puerile  sophism  on  miracles,  amended  so  as 
to  accord  with  reason  and  common  sense,  would  stand 
thus  :  "  All  experience  shows  that  God,  for  the  good 
of  man,  holds  the  laws  of  physical  nature  steady  and 
uniform,  except  when  the  same  good  of  man  and  the 
higher  laws  of  moral  nature  requires  that  they  should 
be  interrupted  ;  and  then  he  uniformly  interrupts 
them."  The  appearance  of  Christ  produced  one  such 
moral  crisis  in  our  world,  and  the  appearance  of  any 
other  similar  being  would  undoubtedly,  by  the  same 
uniform  moral  law,  produce  another  similar  exhibition. 
In  all  other  connections,  and  in  all  other  cases,  miracles 
are  utterly  incredible  on  any  amount  of  human  testi- 
mony whatever.  True,  the  Mormons  and  other  fanat- 
ics hang  around  the  Bible,  just  as  vermin  suck  their 
vigor  from  the  most  noble  forms  ;  but  that  does  not 
make  them  an  organic  part  of  such  bodies.  A  profound 
philosopher  should  be  able  to  distinguish  between  them. 
This  is,  however,  what  most  skeptics  profess  themselves 
unable  to  achieve.  We  would  gladly  put  them  in  pos- 
session of  the  means  of  this  necessary  discrimination. 

Thus  far,  our  cause  stands  precisely  thus.  Reason- 
ing from  known  and  admitted  facts — facts  with  which 
God  has  purposely  filled  the  world— we  must  imagine 
millions  of  moral  miracles  and  absurdities,  in  order  to 


142  SUMMARY    OF    PROOF HUMAN    HOSTILITY. 

get  rid  of  admitting  that  Christ  appeared,  lived,  and 
taught,  in  substance  as  recorded  in  the  New  Testament. 
But  if  we  admit  the  appearance  of  such  a  character, 
and  such  doctrines  of  morality  in  connection  with  such 
a  life  and  death,  we  should  be  compelled  to  imagine 
supernatural  interpositions  of  the  Divine  Being  in  their 
favor,  even  if  we  found  none  on  record,  or  else  to  deny 
that  there  was  a  God  in  heaven  who  cared  for  the  well- 
being  of  man  ;  or  we  must  admit  that  he  lacked  the 
power  thus  to  interpose,  for  the  proof  of  his  veracity 
to  the  minds  of  men.  Deists  and  skeptics  may  take 
their  choice  ;  or  they  may  confound  all  creeds  together, 
paganism,  Mormonism,  and  all,  and  then  prate  about 
one  religion's  being  just  as  good  and  just  as  susceptible 
of  proof  as  another  :  that  will  not  make  it  so.  Yet 
these  are  only  some  of  the  considerations  which  show 
that  deism  implies,  in  itself,  the  most  absurd  and  child- 
ish credulity. 

Again :  human  nature  is  so  averse  to  the  principles 
and  restraints  of  the  gospel,  that  it  is  only  with  the  ut- 
most difficulty  that  only  a  few  individuals,  compara- 
tively, are  found,  who  can  be  persuaded  honestly  to 
adopt  and  practise  its  doctrines,  even  after  convinced 
of  their  general  truth ;  and  that,  too,  in  an  age  when 
there  is  nothing  to  forbid,  but  much  to  impel  to  such  a 
course.  After  centuries  of  effort,  it  has  been  found  im- 
practicable to  force  the  doctrines  of  Christ  upon  any 
except  the  most  enlightened  and  benevolent  nations  and 
individuals.  (I  am  here  speaking  of  the  real  doctrines 
of  Christ,  not  of  the  dogmas  of  bigots  and  fanatics.) 
How  did  it  happen,  then,  that  such  doctrines  should 
have  actually  acquired  the  control  of  the  intellect  and 
destinies  of  the  globe,  amid  a  race  naturally  so  averse 


CONTRAST    BETWEEN    SMITH    AND    CHRIST.  143 

to  its  restraints,  if  God  has  not  interposed  continually 
in  its  favor  ?  If  that  interposition  should  now  cease, 
all  Christendom  would  become  infidels  in  less  than  a 
century.  How,  then,  could  belief  of  such  obnoxious 
doctrines  have  originated,  and  advanced,  as  it  has, 
without  such  interposition,  when  the  power  of  the  globe 
was  against  them  ? 

If  such  interpositions  as  are  reported  did  not  occur, 
why  did  not  the  stubborn  Jews,  or  the  warlike  Ro- 
mans, or  the  philosophic  Greeks  contradict  the  report, 
especially  when  they  saw  that  it  not  only  implicated 
their  own  characters,  but  endangered  their  religion  and 
their  state  ? 

Joe  Smith  arises  and  claims  miraculous  power,  and 
though  he  exhibits  nothing,  makes  war  upon  none,  and 
endangers  none  directly,  still  he  cannot  live  five  years 
without  setting  all  pens  and  all  tongues  in  motion  to 
expose  and  contradict  the  lie.  Affidavits  and  books 
are  accumulated  by  scores  every  year.  Jesus  Christ 
arises,  declares  direct  and  determined  war  upon  all  the 
institutions  of  the  globe,  civil,  political,  and  religious, 
works  miracles,  is  apprehended  and  put  to  death,  by 
the  most  gigantic  military  despotism  the  world  has  ever 
seen.  A  few  fishermen  record  his  doctrines  and  mira- 
cles, give  them  to  the  world  as  true,  and  thus  not  only 
consign  his  persecutors  to  infamy,  but  openly  charge 
them  with  his  deliberate  murder  !  Not  a  pen  moves  ! 
Not  a  tongue  speaks  !  All  is  silent  !  They  are  pricked 
to  the  heart  !  multitudes  believe  ;  and  these  uncontra- 
dicted tales  now  rule  the  world.  Surely  there  was  a 
different  species  of  human  beings  on  the  globe  then 
from  what  there  is  in  these  days. 

Let  us  account  for  facts.    That  is  all  we  have  to  do. 


144     EFFORTS  OF  THE  GREAT  AND  WISE  CONTRASTED. 

Again :  the  whole  world  of  talent  and  genius  have 
agonized,  through  ages  of  toil,  to  devise  a  system  of 
morals  and  religion  adapted  to  the  nature  of  man,  and 
consistent  with  all  other  known  truth.  The  Egyptian 
labored ;  the  Greek  labored  ;  the  Roman  labored  ;  Soc- 
rates, the  "  wisest  and  best  of  men,"  Plato,  the  univer- 
sal genius,  Aristotle,  the  wonder  of  the  world,  Cicero, 
the  prince  of  scholars  and  orators — all  labored  and 
toiled,  and  toiled  again,  and  all  failed.  Their  systems 
and  their  works  are  with'  them  in  the  dust.  Jesus 
Christ,  an  obscure,  unlettered,  and  despised  Galilean, 
touched  the  subject,  and  threw  around  it  the  light  of 
eternal  day,  charming,  by  the  unearthly  music  of  his 
divine  wisdom  and  virtue,  the  most  distant  and  enlight- 
ened ages  and  nations.  Was  this  of  God,  or  of  man  ? 
We  must  account  for  facts. 

Again :  all  these,  and  multitudes  of  others,  have 
toiled  to  gain  an  eternal  sway  over  human  opinion  and 
action,  in  enlightened  nations.  For  this  end,  they  have 
ransacked  the  world  of  fiction  and  of  fact,  written  vol- 
umes upon  volumes,  and  all  who  have  relied  upon  mere 
moral  means  have  utterly  failed.  But  this  same  despi- 
sed outcast  of  Nazareth,  without  study,  without  educa- 
tion, and  seemingly  without  design — without  even  wri- 
ting a  single  scroll  himself,  has  acquired,  and  still  re- 
tains, an  uncontrolled  and  undiminished  sway  over  the 
faith,  laws,  manners,  and  customs  of  the  only  civilized 
nations  on  the  globe.  Here  is  a  fact.  God  calls  on  us 
to  account  for  it,  as  rational  beings. 

Again:  the  light  of  modern  science  has  over- 
thrown, and,  if  known,  would  inevitably  sweep  away 
all  forms  of  false  religion,  as  well  as  all  perversions  of 
Christianity,  from  off  the  face  of  the  globe,  and  leave 


INFLUENCE    OF    CHRISTIANITY.  145 

man,  with  all  the  instinctive  longings  of  his  religious 
nature,  unsatisfied  forever.  On  the  contrary,  in  spite 
of  the  assaults  of  skeptics,  each  new  science  tends  only 
to  confirm  and  strengthen  the  truths  of  Christianity,  in- 
somuch that  the  great  masters  in  every  science,  the 
Bacons,  and  Newtons,  and  Lockes,  and  Cuviers,  of 
every  age,  have  been  almost  without  exception  Chris- 
tians of  firm,  if  not  of  a  devout  faith.  While  the  wisest 
and  best  of  mankind,  our  Washingtons,  and  Hancocks, 
and  Hales,  and  even  our  invincible  Bonapartes,  and  our 
skeptical  Franklins,  declare  that  Christianity  is  still, 
even  in  this  remote  age,  indispensable  to  the  civil  and 
social  well-being  of  mankind.  How,  then,  alone,  of  all 
other  mere  men,  did  Jesus  Christ,  or  the  twelve  fisher- 
men of  Galilee,  foresee  the  teachings  of  science,  and 
anticipate  the  political  and  social  necessities  of  remote 
ages  and  unborn  nations  two  thousand  years  after  his 
death  ? 

Again :  all  who  have  made  an  honest,  experimental 
application  and  trial  of  the  moral  truths  of  Christianity, 
aver  that  they  find  them  in  all  respects  to  accord  with 
the  most  secret  consciousness  of  their  souls,  and  adapt- 
ed to  all  the  laws  and  exigencies  of  their  being.  But 
how  did  Jesus  Christ  alone,  of  all  others,  know  the 
hearts  and  moral  necessities  of  men  in  remote  and  un- 
born ages  ? 

Again  :  whenever  or  wherever,  in  all  countries,  and 
in  all  ages,  the  Bible  has  been  opened,  read,  understood, 
believed,  and  practised,  even  in  a  tolerable  degree,  in 
any  given  community,  there  peace,  order,  tranquillity, 
plenty,  and  freedom  have  abounded  ;  law  and  right 
rule  ;  science  shines  ;  intelligence  sparkles  ;  hope 
brightens,  and  joy  abounds.     But  wherever  the  Bible 

7 


146        CORRUPTIONS    OF    FAITHS PROPHECIES,    ETC, 

has  been  closed,  or  cast  out,  or  corrupted,  or  despised, 
there  ambition,  intrigue,  rancor,  treason,  anarchy,  and 
war  have  stalked  abroad  ;  tyranny  has  there  revelled, 
liberty  departed,  science  faltered,  industry  slackened, 
plenty  vanished  ;  passion,  lust,  and  crime  have  become 
rampant ;  hope  has  sickened,  and  joy  fled  forever.  Let 
any  village  in  Christendom  try  the  former  experiment, 
and  they  will  become  a  happy  and  prosperous  village 
in  six  months  from  the  hour  they  commence.  Let 
them  try  the  other,  and  sots  and  knaves  will  soon 
abound,  but  honest  men  will  starve  or  fly. 

Is  the  God  of  providence,  then,  the  God  of  the  Bi- 
ble ?  and  does  he  care  for  it,  or  does  he  not  ?  He  has 
given  us  some  few  facts  to  look  at  as  well  as  "  testi- 
monies." 

Again  :  how  happens  it  that  men  have  been  able  to 
add  to,  or  take  from,  the  pretended  truths  of  other  re- 
ligions without  individual  or  public  harm,  while  every 
corruption  of  Christianity  has  uniformly  resulted  in 
the  most  terrific  evils  to  the  human  race  ?  The  Greeks 
and  Romans  voted  in  gods  and  voted  out  gods,  and  all 
was  just  as  well  as  before ;  while  a  few  seemingly 
slight  corruptions  of  Christianity  filled  all  Europe  with 
blood  and  terror,  through  mourning  ages  of  darkness 
and  dismay.  Does  the  God  of  providence  care  for 
Christianity,  or  does  he  not  care*  for  it  ? 

These  are  but  a  few  of  the  manifold  facts,  which 
God  has  thrown  across  our  track,  in  every  age  of  the 
world,  and  by  which  he  compels  us  to  admit,  that  the 
God  of  nature  and  providence  is  also  the  God  of  the 
Bible,  or  else  give  up  our  claim  to  be  deemed  rational 
beings. 

There  are  also  the  standing  and  peculiar  monuments 


CONCLUSION.  147 

of  the  Jews  and  Christians,  Circumcision,  the  Passover, 
Baptism,  and  the  Lord's  Supper ;  all  running  up,  inevi- 
tably, to  the  same  original  idea,  and  more  than  all  these, 
lucid  and  miraculous  predictions  of  prophecy.  Here 
our  simple  duty  is  to  compare  the  present  and  past  his- 
tory of  the  globe  with  its  prophetic  history,  given  two 
thousand  years  ago,  and  make  the  necessary  and  inevi- 
table inference  from  such  a  comparison. 

Jews,  Christians,  Mohammedans,  Judea,  Egypt, 
Edom,  Tyre,  Amnion,  Moab,  Philistia,  Nineveh,  Baby- 
lon, &p.,  are  all  at  this  moment  so  many  monuments, 
reared  by  Omnipotence,  in  face  of  the  globe,  in  every 
age,  to  compel  them  to  infer  that  the  Bible  is  not  of 
man,  but  of  God.  In  short,  God  has  in  no  age  failed 
to  keep  the  world,  in  all  parts  of  it,  filled  with  facts 
open  to  the  eyes  of  all,  which  are  utterly  inexplica- 
ble on  any  other  ground  except  on  the  obvious  and 
simple  position  that  the  Bible  is  the  word  of  God.  Ad- 
mit that,  and  all  is  plain.  Deny  that,  and  all  is  riddle, 
mystery,  and  miracle,  from  the  stamping  of  a  copper  to 
the  desolation  of  empires. 

A  full  survey  of  all  the  absurdities  which  must  ensue 
from  denying  that  the  Bible  is  the  word  of  God,  while 
attempting  to  account  for  facts  before  our  own  eyes, 
and  in  the  world  at  large,  would  be  necessary,  in  order 
to  a  full  exhibition  of  the  evidence  of  the  divine  au- 
thority of  the  Scriptures,  from  necessary  and  inevitable 
logical  inference  from  known  facts.  This  our  design 
will  not  permit.  Can  any  other  book  advance  such 
claims  ?  Yet  so  it  is  :  when  men  undertake  to  make  a 
new  revelation,  they  construct  about  us  a  perfect  hedge 
of  riddles,  from  which  we  may  indeed  not  easily  make 
our  escape.     But  when  God  undertakes  it,  he  enstamps 


148  CONCLUSION. 

the  proofs  of  its  authority  on  all  without  and  within  us; 
so  that  without  it,  all  else  is  but  a  riddle,  a  perfect  maze 
of  utterly  inexplicable  riddles.  The  same  all-skilful 
hand  that  weaves  the  web  of  Providence  and  of  Des- 
tiny, so  interlocks  the  golden  lines  of  his  revealed  will, 
that  no  mortal  hand  can  sever  the  two  without  the  si- 
multaneous destruction  of  both. 

Here  we  find  evidence  that  is  worth  something  ;  this 
looks  indeed  like  Divinity.  We  want  no  human  testi- 
monies, and  human  probabilities,  and  human  authorities, 
and  human  impulses,  and  human  phantasms  here.  We 
have  the  great  seal  of  high  Heaven,  enstamped,  not 
merely  on  the  record  of  the  original  facts,  but  on  all 
we  see,  and  hear,  and  know,  and  feel,  in  all  ages  of  the 
world,  and  through  every  hour  of  our  lives,  from  the 
cradle  to  the  grave.  The  bank  notes  of  heaven  are 
not  so  easily  counterfeited,  after  all,  as  many  seem  to 
imagine.  It  requires  something  more  than  somebody's 
mere  "  say  so"  to  make  them  current.  They  must  be 
traced  with  a  pen  which  none  but  Omnipotence  can 
wield  :  its  eternal  lines  must  run  through  all  ages  and 
encircle  all  the  generations  of  men  so  plainly,  that  all  may 
see  for  themselves,  and  that  even  he  that  runneth  may 
read.  How  far  forth  Joseph  Smith's  pretended  reve- 
lations can  endure  the  scrutiny  of  these  tests,  we  shall 
see  in  the  subsequent  chapters. 


CLAIMS  OF  THE  BOOK  OF  MORMON.       149 


CHAPTER  V. 

CLAIMS    OF    THE     BOOK     OF     MORMON    TO    CREDIBILITY    AND 
AUTHORITY. 

Its  claims — Character  of  Smith — Contrasted  with  Moses — The  sainted 
twelve  of  Smith — Testimony  of  Smith's  three  witnesses — Character 
of  Harris  by  Smith — by  his  own  wife — Character  of  Cowdery  and 
Whitmer  by  Smith — by  others — Capacity  of  witnesses — Eye  of  faith, 
power*  of  God,  &c. — Disinterestedness  of  witnesses — Testimony  of 
the  eight  witnesses — Smith's  mode  of  translation. 

Having  briefly  considered  the  general  grounds  on 
which  a  revelation  professing  to  come  from  God  can 
be  rendered  credible,  we  are  now  prepared  to  examine 
the  pretensions  of  Smith.  The  Book  of  Mormon  claims 
to  be  the  foundation  of  the  whole  scheme ;  and  though 
this  claim  is  unfounded,  as  we  have  shown,  still  we  will 
first  consider  its  credibility  and  authority. 

By  referring  to  the  general  account  already  given 
of  the  origin  and  history  of  this  book,  the  reader  will 
at  once  see  that  it  does  not  even  pretend  to  base  its 
claims  on  either  of  the  two  grounds,  on  which  a  reve- 
lation can  be  rendered  credible,  viz,  on  the  personal  ex- 
perience and  observation  of  the  individuals  whom  it  ad- 
dresses ;  nor,  secondly,  on  the  ground  of  inevitable  infer- 
ence from  known  and  admitted  facts. 

So  far  as  argument  is  concerned,  we  might  here  con- 
sign both  the  book  and  its  author,  without  further  re- 
marks, to  the  infamy  which,  in  common  with  all  simi- 
lar impostures,  they  really  deserve. 

But,  since  Smith's  pretensions,  not  only  to  the  char- 


150  CHARACTER    OF    SMITH. 

acter  of  a  prophet,  but  also  to  that  of  an  honest  man, 
rest  primarily  on  this  book,  we  will,  for  the  common 
benefit  of  the  credulous  and  tke  curious,  proceed  to  ex- 
amine the  only  remaining  claims  which  it  ever  has,  or 
ever  can  set  up.     These  are  four  : 

1.  Claims  on  the  ground  of  the  known  character  of 
its  author,  Joseph  Smith. 

2.  Claims  on  the  ground  of  the  credibility  of  the  wit- 
nesses who  have  endorsed  it. 

3.  Claims  on  the  ground  of  the  Scripture  prophe- 
cies. 

4.  Claims 'on  the  ground  of  its  own  internal  excel- 
lence. 

1.  Our  first  point  respects  the  character  and  credi- 
bility of  Joseph  Smith,  jun.,  who  announces  himself,  on 
the  title-page  of  the  first  edition  of  the  Book  of  Mor- 
mon, as  "  the  author  and  proprietor"  of  that  work. 

Our  first  remark  is,  that  we  cheerfully  admit  this 
claim. 

We  cannot  conceive  how  any  man  of  common  sense 
could  ever  have  imagined  that  God,  or  any  other  being, 
except  Joe  Smith,  was  either  the  author  or  proprietor 
of  such  a  book.  The  only  difficulty  is,  to  see  how  Cod 
can  be  responsible  for  a  work  of  which  Joseph  Smith 
is  "Author  and  Proprietor ;"  and  one  ground  on  which 
such  a  claim  must  be  sustained,  is  the  admitted  excel- 
lence and  trustworthiness  of  Joseph  Smith's  moral  char- 
acter. 

We  admit  that  a  man  may  have  great  faults,  and  still 
be  not  only  worthy  af  credit,  but  an  accredited  and  ap- 
propriate agent  of  the  Most  High. 

All  the  ancient  worthies,  who  spake  as  they  were 
moved  by  the  Holy  Ghost,  were  frail  and  sinful  men, 


CHARACTER    OF    SMITH.  151 

like  ourselves;  still  they  became  the  approved  and  ac- 
credited messengers  of  God. 

We  admit,  also,  that  God  often  chooses  "  the  weak 
things  of  the  world  to  confound  the  wise ;"  and  that 
want  of  mere  worldly  talent,  acquirement,  or  genius,  is 
therefore  no  insuperable  objection  to  the  credibility  of 
a  prophet  of  the  Lord. 

Still,  we  contend  that  God  never  has,  and  never  will, 
choose  a  character  notoriously  weak,  silly,  profane,  and 
rotten  in  all  its  parts,  to  deliver  a  new  dispensation  of 
his  will  to  man. 

What,  then,  was  the  notorious  character  of  Joseph 
Smith  before,  and  at  the  time,  of  the  writing  of  the 
Book  of  Mormon  ? 

After  the  union  of  Smith  and  Rigdon,  as  before  re- 
lated, it  became  apparent  that  Smith  was  about  to  gain 
credence  and  make  mischief  in  communities  where  he 
was  not  known.  The  citizens  of  Palmyra  and  Man- 
chester, where  the  Smiths  formerly  resided,  then,  for 
the  first  time,  felt  it  to  be  their  duty  to  make  some  ef- 
fort to  expose  his  real  character,  that  the  world  might 
see  it  as  it  is. 

A  large  number  of  the  most  respectable  citizens,  who 
had  known  Smith  from  a  boy,  appeared  before  the 
proper  tribunals,  and  gave  testimony,  upon  solemn  oath, 
before  God,  of  what  they  themselves  personally  knew 
of  Smith  and  his  family,  touching  their  previous  char- 
acter and  conduct. 

These  affidavits  were  at  the  time  published  in  most 
of  the  leading  journals  of  the  day- 

The  number  of  persons,  whose  several  testimonies 
have  fallen  into  the  hands  of  the  author,  is  above  nine- 
ty ;  mostly  men  of  known  character  and  respectability 


152  CHARACTER    OF    SMITH. 

where  they  reside.  Their  affidavits  and  testimonies, 
if  given  at  length,  would  occupy  at  least  fifty  pages  of 
the  present  volume.  To  republish  the  whole  would  be 
useless.  We  shall  therefore  select  a  few,  from  among 
the  most  concise  and  explicit. 

The  first  is  signed  by  about  fifty  gentlemen  in  Pal- 
myra, of  the  highest  respectability,  of  almost  all  pro- 
fessions in  life,  and  equally  diverse  in  their  religious 
sentiments.  Lawyers,  physicians,  clergymen,  civil 
magistrates,  farmers,  mechanics,  Episcopalians,  Qua- 
kers, Presbyterians,  Baptists,  Methodists,  elders,  dea- 
cons, &c,  &c,  all  are  represented  upon  the  list  of 
names.     Here,  surely,  is  no  confederacy  of  interest. 

Their  testimony  is  as  follows. 

Palmyra,  N.  Y.,  Dec.  4,  1833. 

"  We,  the  undersigned,  having  been  acquainted  with 
the  Smith  family  for  a  number  of  years,  while  they  re- 
sided near  this  place,  have  no  hesitation  in  saying,  that 
we  consider  them  destitute  of  that  moral  character 
which  ought  to  entitle  them  to  the  confidence  of  any 
community.  They  were  particularly  famous  for  vis- 
ionary projects,  spent  much  of  their  time  in  digging 
for  money,  which  they  pretended  was  hid  in  the  earth; 
and  to  this  day  large  excavations  may  be  seen  in  the 
earth,  not  far  from  their  residence,  where  they  used  to 
spend  their  time  in  digging  for  hidden  treasures.  Jo- 
seph Smith,  senior,  and  his  son  Joseph,  were  in  particu- 
lar considered  entirely  destitute  of  moral  character,  and 
addicted  to  vicious  habits.  Martin  Harris  had  acquired 
a  considerable  property,  and,  in  matters  of  business, 
his  word  was  considered  good.     But  on  moral  and  re- 


CHARACTER    OF    SMITH. 


153 


ligious  subjects  he  was  perfectly  visionary;  sometimes 
advocating  one  sentiment,  sometimes  another. 

"  In  reference  to  all  with  whom  we  are  acquainted, 
that  have  embraced  Mormonism  from  this  neighbor- 
hood, we  are  compelled  to  say  that  they  were  visiona- 
ry; and  most  of  them  destitute  of  moral  character,  and 
without  influence  in  the  community.  This  is  the  rea- 
son why  they  were  permitted  to  go  on  with  their  im- 
position undisturbed.  It  was  not  supposed  that  any  of 
them  were  possessed  of  sufficient  character  or  influ- 
ence to  make  any  one  believe  their  book,  or  their  sen- 
timents ;  and  we  know  not  a  single  individual  in  this  vi- 
cinity who  puts  the  least  confidence  in  their  pretended 
revelations." 


Geo.  N.  Williams, 
Clark  Robinson, 
Lemuel  Durfee, 
E.  S.  Townsend, 
Henry  P.  Alger, 
C.  E.  Thayer, 
L.  Williams, 
Geo.  W.  Crosby, 
Levi  Thayer, 
N.  S.  Williams, 
Henry  Jess  up, 
Joel  Thayer, 
Israel  F.  Chilson, 
H.  Linnell, 
Jas.  Jenner, 
Josiah  Rice, 
S.  Ackley, 
Jesse  Townsend, 
Richard  D.  Clark, 
Th.  P.  Baldwin, 
John  Sothington, 
7* 


Signed, 

Thomas  Rogers,  2d., 
Wm,  Parke, 
Josiah  Francis, 
Amos  Holister, 
G.  A.  Hathaway, 
David  G.  Ely, 
H.  K.  Gerome, 
G.  Beckwith, 
Lewis  Foster, 
Hyram  Payne, 
P.  Grandin, 
Asahel  Millard, 
H.  P.  Thayer, 
P.  Sexton, 
M.  Butterfield, 
S.  P.  Seymour, 
D,  S.  Jackways, 
John  Hurlbut, 
N.  H.  Beckwith, 
Philo  Durfee, 
Giles  S.  Ely, 


154  CHARACTER    OF    SMITH, 

Durfey  Chase,  R.  W.  Smith, 

Wells  Anderson,  Pelatiah  West, 

Linus  North,  L.  Hurd, 

E.  D.  Robinson,  A.  Ensworth. 
G.  W.  Anderson, 

A  similar  testimony  was  also  given  by  the  citizens 
of  Manchester,  N.  Y.,  in  the  borders  of  which  town, 
near  Palmyra,  the  Smith  family  resided  at  the  time  of 
finding  the  "  golden  bible."     It  is  as  follows  : 

Manchester,  Nov.  3d,  1833, 
"  We,  the  undersigned,  being  personally  acquainted 
with  the  family  of  Joseph  Smith,  jun.,  with  whom  the 
celebrated  '  gold  bible'  so  called,  originated,  state  i 
That  they  were  not  only  a  lazy,  indolent  set  of  men, 
but  also  intemperate,  and  their  word  was  not  to  be  de- 
pended upon,  and  we  are  truly  glad  to  dispense  with 
their  society." 

Signed, 
Pardon  Butts,  A.  H.  Wentworth. 

Warden  A.  Reed,  Moses  C.  Smith, 

Hiram  Smith,  Joseph  Fish, 

Alfred  Stafford,  Horace  N,  Barnes, 

James  Gee,  Sylvester  Worden. 

Abel  Chase, 

Parley  Chase,  of  Manchester,  also  testifies  that  the 
Smiths  were  "  lazy,  intemperate,  worthless  men,  very 
much  addicted  to  lying,  in  which  they  frequently 
boasted  their  skill ;  and  that  Joseph,  the  prophet,  bore 
the  reputation  of  a  liar,  as  all  his  former  neighbors 
would  testify." 

David  Stafford  testifies  on  oath,  before  Frederick 
Smith,  justice  of  the  peace  of  Wayne  county,  N.  Y., 


CHARACTER    OF    SMITH.  155 

given  at  Manchester,  Dec.  12th,  1833,  to  substantially 
the  same  facts,  and  adds  that  the  whole  family  were 
not  only  liars,  indolent,  and  intemperate,  but  that  they 
were  also  suspected  of  gaining  their  livelihood  in  part 
by  theft. 

In  the  affidavit  of  Henry  Harris,  given  before  Jona* 
than  Lapham,  justice  of  the  peace  of  Cuyahoga  county, 
Ohio,  among  other  things,  he  states  that  he  was  once 
on  a  jury  before  which  the  prophet,  Smith,  appeared 
as  a  witness,  and  that  the  jury  could  not,  and  did  not, 
receive  his  testimony  as  true.  Witness  also  deposes 
that,  from  long  acquaintance  with  Smith,  he  could  not 
himself  believe  him  under  oath. 

Roswell  Nichols  also  testifies  among  other  things, 
that  "  for  breach  of  contracts,  for  non-payment  of 
debts  and  borrowed  money,  and  for  duplicity  with  their 
neighbors,  the  family  were  notorious." 

Joseph  Capron  testifies  that  the  whole  family  of 
Smiths  were  notorious  for  indolence,  foolery,  and  false- 
hood. Their  whole  object  appeared  to  be  to  live  with- 
out work.  While  they  were  digging  for  money  they 
were  daily  harassed  by  the  demands  of  creditors  which 
they  were  never  able  to  pay." 

Barton  Stafford,  on  oath  before  Tho.  P.  Baldwin, 
judge  of  Wayne  county  court,  testifies  "  that  Joseph 
Smith,  sen.,  was  a  noted  drunkard,  and  that  most  of  the 
family  followed  his  example,  especially  the  prophet, 
Joseph,  jun.,  who  was  much  addicted  to  intemperance. 
Even  after  he  pretended  to  be  inspired  of  the  Lord  to 
translate  the  Book  of  Mormon,  he  one  day  got  quite 
drunk  while  at  work  in  my  fathers  field.  Finding  his 
legs  refuse  to  do  their  office,  he  leaned  upon  the  fence 
for  some  time.     At  length,  recovering  again,  he  fell  to 


156  CHARACTER    OF    SMITH. 

scuffling  with  one  of  the  workmen,  who  tore  his  shirt 
nearly  off  from  him.  His  wife  (whom  he  had  recently 
married,  and  who  was  at  our  house  on  a  visit)  appeared 
very  much  grieved  at  his  conduct,  and,  to  protect  his 
back  from  the  sun  and  conceal  his  'nakedness,  threw 
her  shawl  over  his  shoulders,  and  in  that  plight  escorted 
the  prophet  home.  When  intoxicated  he  frequently 
made  his  religion  the  topic  of  conversation." 

Willard  Chase  testifies,  before  Frederick  Smith,  jus- 
tice of  the  peace  of  Wayne  county,  N.  Y.,  that  in 
1828,  when  Smith  wanted  to  go  to  Pennsylvania  to  see 
his  intended  wife,  being  destitute  of  means,  he  set  his 
wits  to  work  to  raise  the  money,  -and  get  a  recom- 
mendation to  the  fair  one  of  his  choice.  He  went  to  a 
man  by  the  name  of  Lawrence,  as  Lawrence  told  wit- 
ness himself,  and  pretended  that  he  had  discovered  in 
Pennsylvania  a  very  rich  mine  of  silver,  which  could 
be  readily  loaded  into  boats,  and  taken  to  Philadelphia, 
down  the  river,  to  market. 

By  Smith's  promising  to  go  himself,  and  show  him 
the  spot,  Lawrence  was  induced  to  believe  and  accom- 
pany him.  He  soon  found  that  he  had  to  advance  all 
the  money  to  foot  the  bills  by  the  way.  When  they 
arrived  at  Mr.  Hales',  Smith  got  Lawrence  to  recom- 
mend him  to  Mr.  Hales'  daughter,  Emma,  whom  he  af- 
terwards married,  without  her  father's  consent.  They 
then  went  to  hunt  for  the  mine,  but  found  nothing,  and 
Lawrence  was  left  to  return  and  pay  his  own  expenses 
back,  as  best  he  could.  After  securing  a  clandestine 
marriage  with  his  wife,  Smith  desired  to  return  to  N. 
York,  and  take  her  and  her  effects  with  him.  He  ac- 
cordingly went  to  an  old  Dutchmanby  the  nameofStow- 
cl.  with  whom  he  had  formerly  dug  for  money,  and  told 


CHARACTER    OF    SMITH*  157 

him  that  he  had  discovered  on  the  bank  of  Black  River, 
N.  Y.,  a  cave,  in  which  he  had  found  a  bar  of  gold  as 
big  as  his  leg,  and  about  three  or  four  feet  long  ;  that 
he  could  not  get  it  out  alone,  on  account  of  its  being 
fast  at  one  end.  But  if  he  (Stowel)  would  go  and 
move  him  up  to  Manchester,  they  would  go  with  a 
chisel  and  mallet,  and  get  it,  and  share  the  prize  be- 
tween them.  Stowel  went ;  and  shortly  after  their 
arrival  at  Manchester  he  reminded  the  prophet  of  his 
promise  ;  but  he  calmly  replied  that  he  would  not  go 
in  search  of  the  cave,  for  his  wife  was  now  among 
strangers,  and  would  be  very  lonesome  if  he  should  go 
away.  Like  Lawrence,  Stowel  returned  without  see- 
ing any  gold,  except  what  he  paid  out  of  his  own 
pockets,  to  defray  the  expenses  of  himself  and  his  val- 
iant comrade. 

These  facts  are  quoted  merely  to  show  how  Smith 
has  acquired  such  skill  at  deception,  as  he  obviously 
possesses  among  the  ignorant.  He  has  got  it  by  prac- 
tice. It  has  been  his  sole  business  from  a  child,  as 
multitudes  of  facts  show.  In  short,  it  was  also  the 
business  of  his  father  and  of  the  whole  family. 

The  testimony  of  Mr.  Isaac  Hale,  of  Harmony, 
Penn.,  the  much  abused  and  aggrieved  father-in-law  of 
Smith,  whose  daughter  Emma  he  enticed  from  home 
and  married,  without  her  father's  consent,  has  been  re- 
cently before  the  public.  It  was  given  before  Charles 
Dimmon,  justice  of  the  peace.  William  Thompson  and 
David  Dimock,  associate  judges  of  the  court  of  com- 
mon pleas  in  Susquehanna  county,  Penn.,  attest  that 
Mr.  Hale  is  a  man  of  excellent  moral  character,  and  of 
undoubted  veracity. 

Mr.  Hale,  after  stating  a  variety  of  facts  as  regards 


158  CHARACTER    OF    SMITH* 

the  appearance  and  translation  of  the  Book  of  Mormon, 
his  first  acquaintance  with  Smith,  his  subsequent  elope- 
ment with  his  daughter,  and  having  from  a  sense  of 
duty  described  the  character  of  Smith  to  be  much  the 
same  as  that  given  him  by  all  the  other  witnesses,  thus 
concludes  : 

"  Joseph  Smith,  Jr.,  resided  near  me,  for  some  time 
after  his  marriage,  and  I  had  a  good  opportunity  of 
becoming  acquainted  with  him,  and  somewhat  acquainted 
with  his  associates  ;  and  I  conscientiously  believe,  from 
the  facts  I  have  detailed,  and  from  many  other  circum- 
stances which  I  do  not  deem  it  necessary  to  relate,  that 
the  whole  Book  of  Mormon,  so  called,  is  a  silly  fabri- 
cation of  falsehood  and  wickedness,  got  up  for  specula* 
tion,  and  with  a  design  to  dupe  the  credulous  and  un- 
wary, and  in  order  that  its  fabricators  may  live  upon 
the  spoils  of  those  who  swallow  the  deception." 

The  facts  alluded  to  relate  to  the  appearance,  con- 
duct, and  conversation  of  Smith,  Harris,  and  Cowdery, 
during  the  time  they  were  engaged  in  pretending  to 
translate  the  golden  plates  ;  which  work,  it  appears, 
was  commenced  in  Mr.  Hale's  house,  and  continued 
until  he  ordered  the  pretended  plates  out  of  doors,  and 
then  the  work  was  prosecuted  in  that  vicinity  until  it 
was  finished. 

We  have  given  only  brief  extracts  from  the  affidavits 
of  a  small  part  of  the  original  witnesses.  To  swell 
our  volume  with  a  full  rehearsal  of  all  the  tedious  and 
disgusting  detail  of  facts,  which  they  adduce  to  prove 
and  illustrate  the  consummate  knavery  of  the  prophet, 
and  his  family,  would  be  indeed  a  thankless  task. 

The  above  will  answer  as  specimens  of  the  deposi- 
tions of  some  hundred  respectable  witnesses,  both  as 


CHARACTER  OF  SMITH.  159 

regards  their  opinion  of  the  character  of  Smith,  and  the 
facts  on  which  that  opinion  is  founded.  No  attempt  has 
ever  been  made  by  the  Mormons  to  impeach  the  credi* 
bility  of  any  of  these  witnesses,  nor  could  such  an  at- 
tempt be  made  with  success.  They  can  declaim  long 
and  loud,  and  call  all  this  persecution,  and  impiously 
compare  it  to  the  persecutions  of  Christ,  whose  moral 
excellence  even  deists  have  been  compelled  to  admire ; 
but  they  can  bring  no  opposing  facts  from  any  source 
whatever.  They  can  assert  that  Smith's  character 
was  goqd,  but  they  cannot  find  a  man  to  admit  it,  who 
knew  him,  except  those  leagued  with  him  in  his  detest* 
able  scheme  of  fraud. 

So  far,  then,  as  the  bare  testimony  of  Smith  is  con* 
cerned,  the  case  stands  thus — We  may  either  believe  in 
the  testimony  of  some  ninety  or  a  hundred  individuals, 
of  unimpeachable  veracity,  given  under  solemn  oath, 
and  all  corroborating  one  another,  or  we  may  believe 
the  absurd  and  contradictory  statements  of  one  inter* 
ested  and  notorious  liar,  respecting  a  matter  before  un- 
heard of,  and  utterly  incredible  on  any  amount  what* 
ever  of  mere  human  testimony. 

But,  if  the  evidence  of  these  witnesses  is  to  be  taken, 
either  in  whole  or  in  part,  what  becomes  of  Smith  and 
his  pretended  revelation  ? 

Here  is  the  singular  phenomenon  of  a  new  revelation, 
claiming  credence,  fundamentally,  on  the  ground  of 
mere  human  testimony ;  but  the  moment  we  admit  the 
credibility  of  human  testimony,  even  on  the  ordinary 
rules  of  a  civil  court,  both  the  book  and  its  author  are 
prostrated  at  once,  and  their  character  and  credibility 
destroyed  forever. 

In  one  dispensation  of  faith,  God  chose  Moses,  a  man 


160        SMITH  CONTRASTED  WITH  MOSES,  PAUL,  ETC. 

skilled  in  all  the  wisdom  of  Egypt,  not  faultless,  indeed, 
but  at  least  respectable,  even  in  the  judgment  of  his 
enemies.  In  the  second  dispensation,  he  chose  his  own 
Son,  in  whom  even  the  heathen  Pilate  could  find  no 
fault.  Now,  in  a  third  dispensation,  if  Mormonism 
were  of  God,  "  the  crowning  glory"  of  the  whole,  as 
we  are  impudently  told,  would  he  have  chosen  Joe 
Smith,  the  money-digger  ?  If  so,  he  would  not  only 
have  chosen  a  weak  instrument,  but  the  choice  itself 
would  have  been  preposterous,  had  he  expected  any 
man  of  common  sense  to  believe  on  him.  True,  Moses, 
David,  the  prophets,  and  apostles,  were  all  faulty,  all 
weak  and  imperfect  beings,  like  other  men ;  but  the 
character  of  Joe  Smith  is  not  merely  faulty,  it  is  utterly 
void  and  rotten ;  and  so  entirely  unworthy,  as  to  make 
it  more  credible  that  the  whole  human  race  should  lie 
than  that  the  all-wise  and  benevolent  God  should  chal- 
lenge the  faith,  and  stake  the  eternal  well-being  of  his 
dependent  creatures  on  the  labors  of  one  so  heartless 
and  utterly  unworthy  of  credit  as  Joe  Smith  is  proved 
to  have  been  from  his  youth  up.  Yet  this  "  crowning 
dispensation  of  the  fulness  of  the  gospel"  is  impudently 
promulgated  on  the  bare  dictum  of  Joe  Smith  !  It  is 
compared  to  that  gospel  wrhich  came  "  with  signs  and 
wonders  on  earth  beneath,  and  in  heaven  above,"  through 
him  "  who  spake  as  never  man  spake"  !  But  it  is  in- 
credible that  he,  in  whom  Pilate  could  find  no  fault — he 
who  once  miraculously  appropriated  to  his  use  the  virtue, 
energy,  courage,  wisdom,  and  skill  of  a  Paul  to  con- 
summate his  designs — it  is  incredible  that  he,  in  these 
last  days,  has  made  choice  of  an  instrument  so  vile 
and  disreputable.  To  suppose  it  possible  would  be  to 
degrade  the  character  of  God,  and  bring  reproach  upon 


THE  SAINTED  TWELVE.  161 

his  cause.  But  it  is  not  so.  It  awakens  in  our  minds  feel- 
ings of  painful  incongruity  to  admit  such  an  absurdity, 
though  it  be  only  for  the  sake  of  argument. 

Even  Smith  himself  is  conscious  that  he  is  worthy 
of  no  credit,  as  his  conduct  plainly  shows.  He  well 
knew,  from  the  beginning  of  his  present  movements, 
that  nobody  either  would  or  could  believe  a  word  he 
should  say.  Hence  he  resorted  to  the  despicable  sub- 
terfuge of  getting  others  equally  infamous  to  testify  and 
endorse  his  absurd  pretensions. 

According  to  Smith's  account  of  this  pretended  reve- 
lation, God  first  sets  one  Mormon*  to  hide  away  the 
records  of  an  extinct  people,  in  the  earth,  lest  he  should 
forget  their  history,  and  he  keeps  them  buried  for  four- 
teen hundred  years.  Then  he  commissions  an  angel  to 
disclose  the  mighty  treasure  to  a  money-digger,  and  or- 
ders him  to  translate  the  record,  as  the  words  are  re- 
vealed to  him  through  two  pellucid  stones.  In  the 
midst  of  the  process,  the  devil  steals  a  part  of  the 
translation  of  this  precious  and  indispensable  history, 
preserved  through  centuries  with  so  much  care,  and  the 
Almighty,  it  would  seem,  could  neither  recall  the  events, 
nor  again  translate  the  plates,  nor  force  the  devil  to 
give  up  the  first,  the  stolen  translation  !f  Finally,  how- 
ever, with  much  ado,  after  three  years'  toil  to  induce 
the  Lord  to  instruct  Joe  Smith  how  to  read  in  the  stones, 
and  in  preparing  Harris  and  Cowdery  to  write,  the 
wonderful  history  comes  forth  to  the  world — all  except 
that  part  which  the  devil  stole — and  Joe  Smith,  Jr.,  is 
of  course  ready  to  swear  to  its  divine  authority.  But 
will  the  world  believe  him  ?    Doubtful.    God,  therefore, 

*  See  B.  M.  p.  529.  1  See  B.  C.  p.  168.  156  ;  and  B.  M.  pref.  to 
the  first  edition. 


162      VALUE  OF  THE  TESTIMONY  OF  THE  WITNESSES. 

next  commands  him  to  get  Martin  Harris,  his  scribe,  a 
fit  tool  for  such  an  enterprise,  to  come  forward  and 
"  bear  witness"  Then  comes  Oliver  Cowdery,  the  other 
scribe,  and  he  testifies.  Then  the  whole  family  of 
Smiths,  the  old  man  and  all,  come  on  to  the  stand,  and 
they  testify ;  and,  finally,  the  family  of  Whitmers,  "fit 
body  to  fit  head"  bring  up  the  rear  to  this  valiant  squad- 
ron of  martyrs.  And  now,  wonderful  to  tell !  "  Infan- 
dum  O  Regina"  !  here  are  the  sainted  twelve !  count- 
ing the  bellwether  of  this  hopeful  flock,  (the  present 
general  at  Nauvoo,)  they  amount  to  the  precise  number 
of  the  ancient  apostles  !  Nothing  more  is  wanted  but 
to  promulgate  the  lie  and  stick  to  it.  They  have  done 
so,  and  found  followers. 

But  when  or  where  did  God  ever  before  resort  to  the 
miserable  expedient  of  attempting  to  prove  the  testi- 
mony of  one  depraved  being  by  that  of  another  just  as 
depraved  ?  What  should  we  have  thought  of  Paul,  if 
he  had  got  Peter,  and  John,  and  James,  and  others  to 
endorse  his  epistles  for  him,  certifying  that  they  were 
true  ?  Why  that  single  fact  would  have  been  sufficient 
to  have  overthrown  the  entire  credibility  of  the  whole 
of  them.  We  might  still  have  said  that  the  sentiments 
in  them  are  true  and  good,  but  we  never  could  have 
believed  that  a  man,  conscious  of  a  commission  from 
the  Most  High,  could  have  resorted  to  such  a  contemp- 
tible expedient.  Much  less  can  we  believe  that 
God  himself  would  authorize  and  countenance  such  a 
measure,  as  Smith  pretends  he  did  in  this  case.* 

What !  God,  the  omnipotent  and  the  wise,  with  such 
a  black  and  dismal  scroll,  as  this  world's  religious  history 
presents,  distinctly  before  his  view — God,  who  did  not 

*  See  B.  C.  page  171. 


VALUE  OF  THE  TESTIMONY  OF  THE  WITNESSES.      163 

require  us  to  take  even  his  beloved  Son  at  his  word — 
woukl  he  challenge  the  confidence  and  faith  of  his 
creatures,  in  the  concerns  of  the  immortal  soul,  on  the 
mere  ground  of  the  testimony  of  twelve  depraved  hu- 
man beings  ?  Satan  himself  would  blush  to  do  it,  were 
it  not  that  he  is  the  father  of  lies,  and  the  father  of  all 
such  pretended  revelations. 

Again :  it  would  be  more  rational  to  believe  that  the 
whole  human  race  had  perjured  themselves,  instead  of 
a  dozen  indolent  sots,  than  to  believe  such  an  absurdity 
as  this  is",  on  the  very  face  of  it,  even  admitting  the 
witnesses  to  be  the  purest  men  on  earth. 

But  we  are  willing,  in  this  case,  to  waive  all  consid- 
erations of  this  sort,  and  admit  that  the  story  is  not,  on 
the  face  of  it,  absurd,  and  that  a  revelation  could  be 
made  credible  in  this  way,  provided  the  witnesses  were 
trustworthy.  On  this  ground  alone,  then,  let  us  exam- 
ine the  testimony  of  the  endorsers  of  the  Mormon 
prophet. 

To  render  their  testimony  more  imposing,  these 
twelve  witnesses  are  marshalled  before  us  in  squad- 
rons. First  comes  the  name  of  the  valorous  General, 
on  the  title-page,  as  "  author  and  proprietor"  of  the 
marvel.  Then,  at  a  proper  distance  in  the  rear,  quite 
on  the  last  leaf,  comes  the  platoon  of  three  :  Oliver 
Cowdery,  as  sergeant,  leads  the  way  ;  David  Whitmer 
follows  ;  and  Martin  Harris,  as  corporal,  brings  up  the 
rear  ;  all  of  whom  have  since  abandoned  the  society  ! 
So  it  would  seem  that  Smith's  divinity  was  almost  as 
unlucky  in  choosing  his  select  platoon  of  witnesses,  as 
he  was  in  choosing  his  translator ;  or,  rather,  his  "  au- 
thor and  proprietor."  Next  comes  the  formidable  bat- 
talion of  eight,  "  who  have  seen,  and  hefted,  and  know 


164  NUMBER  AND  ORDER  OF  WITNESSES. 

of  a  surety."  Of  these,  three,  viz,  Christian  and  Peter 
Whitmer,  and  Joseph  Smith,  sen.,  have  since  died-,  and 
all  the  rest,  except  the  two  Smiths,  brothers  of  the 
prophet,  have  apostatized — at  least,  they  have  aban- 
doned Joe  Smith — viz,  Jacob  Whitmer,  John  Whit- 
mer, and  their  brother-in-law,  Hiram  Page.  This  looks 
rather  squally ;  but,  however,  there  is  nothing  like  faith ; 
let  us  go  on.  And  first,  let  us  hear  the  apostate  three, 
of  the  first  squadron.* 

THE    TESTIMONY    OF    THREE    WITNESSES. 

"  Be  it  known  unto  all  nations,  kindreds,  tongues,  and 
peoples,  unto  whom  this  work  shall  come,  that  we, 
through  the  grace  of  God  the  Father,  and  our  Lord 
Jesus  Christ,  have  seen  the  plates  which  contain  this 
record,  which  is  a  record  of  the  people  of  Nephi,  and 
also  of  the  Lamanites,  his  brethren,  and  also  of  the 
people  of  Jared,  which  came  from  the  tower  of  which 
hath  been  spoken  ;  and  we  also  know  that  they  have 
been  translated  by  the  gift  and  power  of  God,  for  his 
voice  hath  declared  it  unto  us.  Wherefore  we  know 
of  a  surety  that  the  work  is  true. 

"  And  we  also  testify  that  we  have  seen  the  en- 
gravings, which  are  upon  the  plates,  and  they  have 
been  shown  unto  us  by  the  power  of  God,  and  not  of 
man.  And  we  declare,  with  words  of  soberness,  that 
an  angel  of  God  came  from  heaven,  and  he  brought 
and  laid  before  our  eyes  that  we  beheld  and  saw  the 
plates  and  the  engravings  thereon.  And  we  know  that 
it  is  by  the  grace  of  God  the  Father,  and  our  Lord  Je- 
sus Christ,  that  we  beheld,  and  bear  record  that  these 
things  are  true:  and  it  is  marvellous  in  our  eyes.    Nev- 

*  See  B.  M.,  p.  588. 


TESTIMONY  OF  THE  THREE  WITNESSES.  165 

ertheless,  the  voice  of  the  Lord  commanded  us  that  we 
should  bear  record  of  it.  Wherefore,  to  be  obedient 
unto  the  commandments  of  God,  we  bear  testimony  to 
these  things  ;  and  we  know  that  if  we  are  faithful  in 
Christ  we  shall  rid  our  garments  of  the  blood  of  all 
men,  and  be  found  spotless  before  the  judgment-seat  of 
Christ,  and  shall  dwell  with  him  eternally  in  the  heav- 
ens. And  the  honor  be  to  the  Father,  and  to  the  Son, 
and  to  the  Holy  Ghost,  which  is  one  God.  Amen." 
Signed, 
4  Oliver  Cowdery. 

David  Whitmer. 

Martin  Harris. 

The  reader  is  requested  to  notice  particularly  the 
words  in  Italics.  One  would  indeed  think,  that  if  hon- 
est men  had  heard  and  seen  such  marvels,  they  ought, 
at  least,  themselves  to  have  believed  it  through  life,  and 
lived  accordingly,  as  the  apostles  did.  But  we  will  ex- 
amine their  credibility  on  other  grounds  than  the  fact 
of  their  apostacy. 

The  credibility  of  a  witness  depends  on  four  things 
mainly  :  1.  His  character.  2.  His  capacity.  3.  His 
disinterestedness.  4.  His  explicitness.  We  will  ex- 
amine these  several  witnesses  on  these  several  points, 
in  order. 

1.  And  first,  as  regards  the  character  of  Martin  Har- 
ris, we  have  the  inspired  testimony  of  Joseph  Smith,  the 
prophet. 

In  the  Elders'  Journal,  published  at  "  Far  West/ 
Mo.,  August,  1838,  and  edited  by  the  prophet  himself, 
on  the  fifty-ninth  page,  the  reader  will  find  the  follow- 


166  smith's  testimony  of  Harris. 

ing  explicit  and  elegant  testimony  of  the  prophet  to  the 
character  of  Harris  : 

"  Granny  Parish  had  a  few  others  who  acted  as 

lacqueys,  such  as  Martin  Harris,  &c. but  they 

are  so  far  beneath  contempt,  that  a  notice  of  them 
would  be  too  great  a  sacrifice  for  a  gentleman  to  make. 
While  they  were  held  under  the  restraints  of  the 
(Mormon)  church,  they  had  to  behave  with  some  degree 
of  propriety.  But  no  sooner  were  they  excluded  from 
the  fellowship  of  the  church,  than  they  gave  loose  to  all 
kind  of  abominations,  swearing,  lying,  cheating,  swind- 
ling, with  every  species  of  debauchery." 

So  says  the  prophet  himself;  and  in  two  respects 
this  extract  differs  widely  from  his  other  inspired  pro- 
ductions. It  is  both  more  explicit  and  more  credible. 
on  the  face  of  it.  The  prophet  seems  here  to  be  ani- 
mated with  something  like  a  consciousness  that  he  is, 
for  once,  telling  the  truth.  We  will  not  insult  our 
readers,  however,  so  much  as  to  allow  him  to  testify 
even  against  himself,  without  corroborating  proof.  The 
saints,  doubtless,  will  believe  him  ;  but  nobody  else 
can,  even  when  he  speaks  the  truth. 

We  refer  the  reader,  therefore,  to  the  testimony  of 
the  citizens  of  Palmyra,  given  on  page  152,  who  were 
well  acquainted  with  all  these  eleven  witnesses,  as  well 
as  the  three  before  us. 

G.  W.  Stodard  and  Richard  Ford  also  testify  to  the 
same  facts  with  the  other  citizens,  and  add,  that  "  Har- 
ris was  quarrelsome,  not  only  in  the  neighborhood,  but 
in  his  family.  He  was  known  frequently  to  abuse  his 
wife  by  whipping  her,  kicking  her  out  of  bed,  and  turn- 
ing her  out  of  doors,  &c.  He  was  first  a  Quaker,  then 
a  Universalist,  then  a  Restorationer,  then  a  Baptist,  then 


CHARACTER  OP  HARRIS  BY  HIS  WIFE.  167 

a  Presbyterian,  and  then  a  Mormon  ;  but  never  com- 
manded the  respect  of  his  neighbors." 

His  abused  wife  has  also  given  her  testimony.  We 
will  hear  it  at  length. 

Palmyra,  Nov.  29,  1833. 

"  Being  called  upon  to  give  a  statement  to  the  world 
of  what  I  know  concerning  the  Gold  Bible  speculation, 
and  also  of  the  conduct  of  Martin  Harris,  my  husband, 
who  is  a  leading  character  among  the  Mormons,  I  do 
it  free  from  prejudice,  realizing  that  I  must  give  an  ac- 
count at  the  bar  of  God  for  what  I  say. 

"  Martin  Harris  was  once  industrious,  attentive  to 
his  domestic  concerns,  and  thought  to  be  worth  about 
ten  thousand  dollars.  He  is  naturally  quick  in  his  tem- 
per, and,  in  his  mad  fits,  frequently  abuses  all  who  may 
oppose  him  in  his  wishes.  However  strange  it  may 
seem,  I  have  been  a  great  sufferer  by  his  unreasonable 
conduct.  At  different  times,  while  I  lived  with  him,  he 
has  whipped,  kicked,  and  turned  me  out  of  the  house. 
About  a  year  previous  to  the  report  that  Smith  had 
found  gold  plates,  he  became  very  intimate  in  the  Smith 
family,  and  said  he  believed  Joseph  could  see  in  his 
stone  any  thing  he  wished.  After  this,  he  apparently 
became  very  sanguine  in  his  belief,  and  frequently  said 
he  would  have  no  one  in  his  house  that  did  not  believe 
in  Mormonism  ;  and  because  I  would  not  give  credit 
to  the  report  about  the  golden  plates,  he  became  more 
austere  toward  me.  In  one  of  his  fits  of  rage,  he  struck 
me  with  the  butt  end  of  a  whip,  about  the  size  of  my 
thumb,  and  three  or  four  feet  long.  He  beat  me  on 
the  head  four  or  five  times,  and  the  next  day  turned  me 
out  of  doors  twice,  and  beat  me  in  a  shameful  manner. 


168  CHARACTER  OF  HARRIS  BY  HIS  WIFE. 

The  next  day  I  went  to  the  town  of  Marion,  and  while 
there  my  flesh  was  black  and  blue  in  many  places.  His 
complaint  against  me  was,  that  I  was  trying  to  hinder 
him  from  making  money — that  is,  by  the  Mormon  spec- 
ulation.— When  he  found  that  I  was  going  to  Mr.  Put- 
nan's,  in  Marion,  he  said  he  was  going  too ;  that  they 
had  sent  for  him  to  pay  them  a  visit.  On  my  arrival 
at  Mr.  Putnan's,  I  asked  if  they  had  sent  for  Mr.  Har- 
ris. They  replied  that  they  knew  nothing  about  it. 
He,  however,  came  in  the  evening.  Mrs.  Putnan  told 
him  never  to  strike  or  abuse  me  any  more  !  He  then 
denied  ever  striking  me.  She  was,  however,  convinced 
that  he  lied,  as  the  marks  of  his  beating  me  wer.e  plain 
to  be  seen,  for  more  than  two  weeks.  Whether  the 
Mormon  religion  be  true  or  false,  I  leave  the  world  to 
judge  ;  for  its  effects  on  Mr.  Harris  have  been  to  make 
him  more  cross,  turbulent,  and  abusive  to  me.  His 
whole  object  was  to  make  money  by  it.  I  will  give  one 
proof  of  this.  One  day,  at  Peter  Harris'  house,  I  told  him 
he  had  better  leave  the  company  of  the  Smiths,  as  their 
religion  was  false.  To  which  he  replied,  i  If  you  would 
let  me  alone,  I  could  make  money  by  it.1  It  is  in  vain 
for  the  Mormons  to  deny  these  facts,  for  they  are  all 
well  known  to  most  of  his  former  neighbors.  The  man 
has  now  become  rather  an  object  of  pity.  He  has 
spent  most  of  his  property,  and  lost  the  confidence  of 
his  former  friends.  If  he  had  labored  as  hard  on  his 
farm  as  he  has  to  make  Mormons,  he  might  now  be 
one  of  the  wealthiest  farmers  in  the  country.  He  now 
spends  his  time  travelling  through  the  country,  spread- 
ing the  Mormon  delusion,  and  has  no  regard  whatever 
to  his  family. 

"With  regard  to  Mr.  Harris  being  intimate  with 


CHARACTER    OF    HARRIS,  169 

Mrs.  Haggard,  as  has  been  reported,  it  is  but  justice 
to  myself  to  state  such  facts  as  have  come  under  my 
own  observation,  to  show  whether  I  had  any  grounds 
of  jealousy  or  not.  He  was  very  intimate  with  this 
family  for  some  time  previous  to  their  going  to  Ohio. 

"  They  lived,  for  a  while,  in  a  house  which  he  had 
built  for  their  accommodation ;  and  here  he  spent  most 
of  his  leisure  hours,  and  made  her  presents  from  the 
store  and  house.  He  carried  these  presents  in  a  pri- 
vate manner;  and  frequently,  when  he  went  there,  he 
would  pretend  to  be  going  to  some  of  the  neighbors  on 
an  errand,  or  into  the  field.  After  getting  out  of  sight 
of  the  house,  he  would  steer  straight  for  Haggard's 
house,  especially  if  Mr.  Haggard  was  from  home.  At 
times  he  would  go  when  Haggard  was  from  home,  and 
would  stay  until  twelve  or  one  o'clock,  and  sometimes 
until  daylight.  If  his  intentions  were  evil,  the  Lord 
will  judge  him  accordingly  ;  but  if  good,  he  did  not 
mean  to  let  his  left  hand  know  what  his  right  hand 
did. 

"  The  above  statement  of  facts  I  affirm  to  be  true." 
Signed, 

Lucy  Harris. 

In  addition  to  the  above,  it  may  be  stated,  that  Har- 
ris visited  this  same  forsaken  and  broken-hearted  wife 
during  her  last  illness  ;  and  when  near  her  end,  as  he 
was  sitting  and  carelessly  writing  by  her  side,  she  anx- 
iously asked  him  what  he  was  writing?  Reader,  can 
you  imagine  the  prompt  reply  ?  He  said,  "  I  am  wri- 
ting a  letter  to  the  girl  I  intend  to  marry  after  you  are 
dead !"  And  he  actually  married  in  about  two  weeks  ! ! 
This  is  Mormonism  !  and  here  is  the  scribe  and  chief 

8 


170  CHARACTER  OF  COWDERY  AND  WHITHER, 

witness  !  We  can  now  believe  the  prophet,  when  he 
accuses  Harris,  his  compeer,  of  all  sorts  of  debauch- 
eries. 

As  regards  the  character  of  the  two  remaining  wit- 
nesses, Oliver  Cowdery  and  David  Whitmer,  we  would 
also  refer  to  an  inspired  article,  published  in  the  "  Times 
and  Seasons,"  at  Nauvoo,  Illinois,  (VoL  L,  pages  81, 
83,  and  84,)  over  the  name  of  the  prophet  himself. 

The  prophet  there  informs  us,  that  certain  persons, 
among  whom  are  the  names  of  Cowdery  and  Whitmer? 
"  were  busy  in  stirring  up  strife  and  turmoil  among  the 
brethren"  in  Mo.,  in  1838,  and  "that  they  were  studi- 
ously engaged  in  circulating  false  and  slanderous  re- 
ports against  the  saints."  On  page  83,  speaking  of 
Whitmer,  this  inspired  "  Prophet  of  the  Lord"  himself 
exclaims,  "Poor  ass  !  whoever  lives,  will  see  him  and 
his  rider  (W.  W.  Phelps,  another  Mormon  leader) 
perish  like  those  who  perished  in  the  gainsaying  of 
Core,  unless  they  repent."  On  page  84,  speaking  of 
the  same  witnesses,  the  prophet  again  exclaims,  "  Are 
they  not  murderers  at  heart  ?  Are  not  their  conscien- 
ces seared  with  a  hot  iron  ?" 

Query.  Was  this  the  first  time  these  saints  were  en- 
gaged in  circulating  falsehood  ?  Was  this  their  first 
folly  ?  No.  The  world  saw  both  their  knavery  and 
their  "long  ears"  long  before  the  inspired  prophet  re- 
vealed them.  But,  whether  they  are  really  "  asses" 
and  "murderers,"  as  the  prophet  pretends, or  not, there 
can  be  no  doubt  that  "  their  consciences  long  ago  were 
seared  as  with  a  hot  iron." 

The  prophet  and  his  friends  improve  every  year  in 
the  quality  of  their  revelations  to  the  world;  they 
are  becoming  hourly  more  explicit  and  rational.     If 


CHARACTER  OF  COWDERY  AND  WHITMER.  171 

the  ungodly  "  gentiles"  will  only  let  them  alone,  they 
will  not  only  tell  the  truth,  by  and  by,  but  the  whole 

TRUTH. 

But  Smith  has  not  yet  acquired  sufficient  credit  to  be 
believed,  even  when  he  testifies  against  himself  and  his 
cause.  If  he  should  affirm  that  he  himself  is  a  knave, 
that  declaration  alone  would  create  the  only  rational 
doubt  we  can  entertain  that  he  is  one.  We  cannot  be- 
lieve that  his  witnesses  are  as  bad  as  he  represents  them 
to  be,  merely  because  he  affirms  it ;  although,  before 
he  affipmed  it,  there  could  be  no  doubt  of  it.  We 
quote  him,  therefore,  only  for  the  edification  of  the 
"  saints,"  and  endeavor  to  remove  the  doubts  which 
his  testimony  ought  to  create  in  other  minds  by  proof 
from  other  sources. 

David  Stafford,  of  Manchester,  N.  Y.,  closes  his  tes- 
timony before  Judge  Smith  in  the  following  words  : 

"  I  can  also  state  that  Oliver  Cowdery  proved  him- 
self to  be  a  worthless  fellow,  and  not  to  be  trusted  or 
believed  when  he  taught  school  in  this  neighborhood. 
After  going  into  the  ministry,  while  officiating  in  per- 
forming the  ordinance  of  baptism  in  a  brool^  William, 
brother  of  the  prophet,  seeing  a  young  man  writing 
down  what  was  said  on  a  piece  of  board,  was  quite  of- 
fended,  and  attempted  to  take  it  from  him,  kicked  at 
him,  and  clinched  for  a  scuffle.  Such  was  the  conduct 
of  these  pretended  disciples  of  the  Lord." 

As  regards  Whifmer,  we  leave  him  to  his  subsequent 
apostacy  and  the  tender  mercies  of  his  prophet. 

In  respect  to  these  three  witnesses,  then,  the  only 
difficulty  seems  to  be  this  :  We  cannot  clearly  see  how 
"  profane  swearers,  cheats,  liars,  swindlers,  slanderers, 
murderers,  debauchees,  and  asses,"  by  inspired' testi- 


172  CAPACITY    OF    WITNESSES. 

mony  in  1838,  should  have  been  "men  of  most  unim- 
peachable veracity,  as  the  Mormons  tell  us  they  were, 
when  they  endorsed  Smith's  revelations  in  1830. 

We  need  the  stone  spectacles  here.  True,  Judas 
fell  from  among  the  disciples,  but  we  apprehend  that, 
if  the  credibility  of  the  Gospel  rested  either  solely  or 
mainly  on  the  testimony  of  Judas,  few,  except  the  Mor- 
mons and  others  gifted  with  extraordinary  powers  of 
faith,  could  believe  it.  We  believe  Christ  and  his  apos- 
tles partly  on  the  ground  of  their  intrinsic  moral  excel- 
lence, admitted  even  by  their  enemies.  We  reject  Joe 
Smith  and  his  comrades  on  the  ground  of  their  inherent 
infamy,  admitted  both  by  themselves  and  their  dearest 
friends.  This  is  the  precise  analogy  between  Mormon- 
ism  and  the  Gospel  of  which  the  saints  talk  so  much. 
So  much  for  the  character  of  the  three  witnesses, 
taking  the  testimony  of  the  prophet  and  that  of  the 
abused  and  broken-hearted  wife  of  the  infamous  Harris 
to  corroborate  him. 

2.  As  regards  the  capacity  of  the  witnesses,  the 
reader  is  referred  to  a  revelation  given,  June,  1829, 
through  Joseph  Smith,  to  these  three  identical  wit- 
nesses the  year  before  they  appended  their  names  to 
the  Book  of  Mormon,  which  we  will  transcribe. 

"  Revelation  to  Oliver  Cowdery,  David  Whitmer,  and 
Martin  Harris,  given  through  Joseph  Smith,  June, 
1829,  previous  to  their  viewing  the  plates  containing 
the  Book  of  Mormon." 

1.  "  Behold,  I  say  unto  you,  that  you  must  rely  upon 
my  word ;  which  if  you  do  with  full  purpose  of  heart, 
you  shall  have  a  view  of  the  plates,  and  also  of  the 
breast-plate,  the  sword  of  Laban,  the  Urim  and  Thum- 
mim,  which  were  given  to  the  brother  of  Jared,  upon 


CAPACITY    OF    WITNESSES.  173 

the  mount,  when  he  talked  with  the  Lord  face  to  face, 
and  the  miraculous  directors,  which  were  given  to  Lehi 
in  the  wilderness,  on  the  borders  of  the  Red  Sea ;  and 
it  is  by  your  faith  you  shall  obtain  a  view  of  them,  even 
by  that  faith  which  was  had  by  the  prophets  of  old." 

2.  "  And  after  you  have  obtained  faith,  and  have  seen 
them  with  your  eyes,  you  shall  testify  of  them  by  the 
power  of  God ;  and  this  you  shall  do,  that  my  servant 
Joseph  Smith,  jun.,  may  not  be  destroyed,  that  I  may 
bring  about  my  righteous  purposes  unto  the  children  of 
men  in  this  work.  And  ye  shall  testify  that  you  have 
seen  them,  even  as  my  servant  Joseph  Smith,  jun.,  has 
seen  them  ;  for  it  is  by  my  power  he  hath  seen  them,  and 
it  is  because  he  had  faith.  And  he  has  translated 
the  book,  even  that  part  which  I  have  commanded 
him,  and  as  your  Lord  and  your  God  liveth,  it  is 
true." 

3.  "  Wherefore  you  have  received  the  same  power, 
and  the  same  faith,  and  the  same  gift,  like  unto  him. 
And  if  you  do  these  last  commandments  of  mine,  which 
I  have  given  you,  the  gates  of  hell  shall  not  prevail 
against  you ;  for  my  grace  is  sufficient  for  you ;  and 
you  shall  be  lifted  up  m  the  last  day.  And  I,  Jesus 
Christ,  your  Lord  and  your  God,  have  spoken  it  unto 
you,  that  I  might  bring  about  my  righteous  purposes 
unto  the  children  of  men.     Amen." 

A  revelation  given  to  Martin  Harris,  by  Smith,* 
March,  1829,  also  contains  the  identical  words  paraded 
forth  to  the  world  in  the  testimony  of  the  three  wit- 
nesses. 

Verse  5.  "  And  then  shall  he  (Harris)  say  unto  the 
people  of  this  generation :   Behold,  I  have   seen  the 

*  Page  160,  B.  C. 


174  EYE    OF    FAITH. 

things  which  the  Lord  hath  shown  to  Joseph  Smith, 
jun.,  and  I  know  of  a  surety  that  they  are  true,  for  they 
have  been  shown  unto  me  by  the  power  of  God,  and  not  of 
man,  and  these  are  the  words  he  shall  say,"  &c. 

The  voice  of  the  Lord  then,  it  seems,  which  informed 
the  witnesses  that  Smith  had  translated  the  plates,  and 
caused  them  to  know  of  a  surety  that  they  are  true, 
and  commanded  them  to  bear  record  of  it,  in  1830,  in 
the  Book  of  Mormon — this  same  voice  came  to  them 
through  the  mouth  of  the  Lord's  prophet,  Smith,  in 
March  and  June  preceding,  that  is,  in  1829. 

They  are  told  in  this  revelation  that  they  should  ob- 
tain a  view  of  the  plates,  or  see  them,  not  with  their 
natural  eyes,  but  with  those  spiritual  eyes  of  faith  with 
which  the  Mormons  see  so  many  marvels,  viz,  by  the 
*  eye  of  faith,  even  by  that  faith  which  was  had  by  the 
prophets  of  old."  This  accords  with  the  admissions  of 
Martin  Harris,  who  expressly  stated  that  he  did  not  see 
the  plates  with  his  natural  eyes,  but  with  "  the  eye  of 
faith." 

Here,  then,  is  the  "  mighty  power  of  God,  the  angel, 
and  voice  of  the  Lord,"  which  revealed  such  marvels 
in  1830,  all  concentrated  in^the  person,  and  pouring 
from  the  mouth  of  the  Lord's  prophet  in  1829. 

Was  there  ever  impudence  and  stupidity  like  this  ? 
Why  did  the  dunce  publish  that  revelation  to  the 
world,  especially  since  he  has  retained  in  his  own 
hands,  to  this  day,  hundreds  of  others  equally  inspired? 
Was  it  for  the  express  purpose  of  disclosing  his  own 
impudence  and  knavery  ?  Or  was  it  (as  he  himself 
once   remarked   to  Peter   Ingersoll)  to  see  what  the 

"  d d  fools  would  believe."* 

*  See  affidavit  of  Ingersoll  before  Judge  Baldwin,  of  Wayne  co.,  N.  Y. 


DISINTERESTEDNESS    OF    WITNESSES.  175 

But  after  all,  these  witnesses  of  inspiration  did  not 
testify  to  one  half  that  Smith's  divinity  commanded 
them  to  declare.  They  were  so  absorbed  in  their 
visions  and  golden  dreams  about  the  plates,  that  they 
forgot  to  testify,  as  commanded,  of  the  "  breast-plate," 
the  "  sword  of  Laban,"  the  "Urim  and  Thummim,"  the 
miraculous  "  directors,"  &c.  &c.  Perhaps  this  negli- 
gence was  the  reason  that  the  said  divinity  gave  them 
all  over  to  subsequent  unbelief  and  hardness  of  heart, 
to  work  all  kind  of  abominations,  and  be  "guilty  of  all 
manner  of  debaucheries,"  as  the  prophet  assures  us  is 
the  faci 

Their  capacity  as  witnesses,  then,  to  say  nothing  of 
their  honesty,  amounts  simply  to  this — Joe  Smith  puts 
the  words  of  the  Lord  into  their  mouths,  in  1829,  and 
they  repeat  a  part  of  the  same  to  the  world  in  1830. 
Surely,  if  the  prophet,  in  his  pious  rebuke  of  his  wit- 
nesses, had  only  thought  to  have  referred  to  this  trans- 
action, he  might  not  only  have  called  them  "  knaves  and 
asses,"  but  proved  them  such.  Doubtless  he  thought  the 
world  would  take  his  inspired  testimony  to  the  fact, 
without  logical  proof;  we  only  supply  the  proof,  without 
questioning  the  fact. 

3.  The  disinterestedness  of  these  witnesses  is  ap- 
parent from  the  fact  that  Harris  expended  the  fortune 
which  he  had  before  possessed  in  transcribing  and  pub- 
lishing the  book,*  in  hope  of  U  greater  fortune,  as  his 
wife  testified  afterward.  But,  as  the  prophet  did  not 
see  fit  to  redeem  his  pledge  in  this  respect,  Harris  left 
the  church  in  disgust  and  despair  ;  that  is,  so  far  forth 
as  such  a  creature  could  be  either  disgusted  or  despond- 
ent    We  do  not  intend  by  this  to  deny  that  the  usual 

*  See  B.  C.  176. 


176  EXPLICITNESS  OF  TESTIMONY. 

anathemas  against  dissenters  followed  him,  so  as  to  make 
his  apostacy  seem  to  the  world  a  matter  of  discipline. 

Cowdery  was  also  Smith's  scribe,  after  the  devil  stole 
a  part  of  the  transcript,  through  the  negligence  of 
Martin ;  and  inspired  with  the  same  hopes,  he  ran  the 
same  rig,  and  came  to  the  same  end,  with  Harris. 

As  to  Whitmer,  we  commend  him  again  to  the  tender 
mercy  of  his  prophet  and  friends  at  Nauvoo.  Their 
inspired  testimony  proves  much  more  in  regard  to  each 
of  these  witnesses  than  our  cause  demands  ;  the  surplus 
we  leave  for  the  edification  of  the  saints. 

The  explicitness  of  their  testimony  is  equally  apparent. 
They  give  neither  dates,  place,  time,  nor  circumstances 
of  any  kind  whatever.  Whether  the  angel  appeared 
to  them  by  night  or  by  day,  while  asleep  or  awake,  in 
this  century  or  the  last ;  (for  all  Mormons  claim  to  have 
existed  from  eternity ;)  whether  in  the  fields  or  in  a 
temple,  in  a  pig-sty  or  a  brothel, does  not  appear;  though 
from  Harris's  known  character,  we  might  presume  the 
latter.  At  all  events,  it  was  where  Joe  Smith  was  in 
1829,  when  he  received  the  revelations  given  above. 
By  looking  at  the  pretended  revelations,  given  while  the 
work  was  preparing  for  the  press,  it  will  amuse  the 
reader  to  notice  by  what  artifices  Smith's  divinity 
courted  up  his  witnesses,  from  time  to  time,  to  induce 
them  to  hold  on  and  complete  the  work.  Probably  the 
next  time  he  attempts  to  select  aids  and  witnesses  he 
will  endeavor  to  make  a  better  choice. 

True,  if  Peter,  Paul,  and  John,  had  all  apostatized,  it 
would  not  necessarily  have  ruined,  though  it  might  have 
seriously  impaired  the  credibility  of  the  New  Testa- 
ment ;  for  it  does  not  rest,  either  in  whole  or  in  part,  on 
their  naked  testimony.     Smith's  book,  on  the  contrary, 


TESTIMONY  OF  THE  EIGHT  WITNESSES.  177 

is  avowedly  based  on  this  rotten  foundation,  and  neces- 
sarily falls  with  it ;  or  rather,  it  fell  in  the  very  act  of 
attempting  to  rear  and  plant  it  on  such  a  foundation. 

The  sublime  testimony  of  the  second  phalanx  of  eight 
witnesses  is  as  follows  : 

"  Be  it  known  unto  all  nations,  kindreds,  tongues,  and 
people,  unto  whom  this  work  shall  come,  that  Joseph 
Smith,  Jr.,  author  and  proprietor  (! !)  of  this  work,  has 
shown  unto  us  the  plates,  of  which  hath  been  spoken, 
which  have  the  appearance  of  gold;  and  as  many  leaves 
as  the  said  Smith  has  translated,  we  did  handle  with 
our  hands,  and  we  saw  the  engravings  thereon,  all  of 
which  has  the  appearance  of  ancient  work  and  of  nu- 
rious  workmanship.  And  this  we  bear  record,  with 
words  of  soberness,  that  the  said  Smith  has  shown  unto 
us,  for  we  have  seen,  and  hefted,  and  know  of  a  surety, 
that  the  said  Smith  has  got  the  plates  of  which  we  have 
spoken.  And  we  give  our  names  unto  the  world,  to 
witness  unto  the  world  that  which  we  have  seen,  and 
we  lie  not,  God  bearing  witness  of  it." 
Signed, 

Christian  Whitmer, 
Jacob  Whitmer, 
Peter  Whitmer,  Jr., 
John  Whitmer, 
Hiram    Page,   brother-in- 
law  of  the  Whitmers, 
Joseph  Smith,  Sen., 
Hyrum  Smith, 
Samuel  H.  Smith. 

By  turning  to  the  same  revelation,  quoted  above,  the 
reader  will  again  see  how  this  second  platoon  of  wit- 

8* 


178     SUBSTANCE  OF  TESTIMONY  OF  THE  WITNESSES. 

nesses  "  liefted"  and  "  knew  of  a  surety"  that  the  said 
Smith  had  the  plates  "  of  which  hath  been  spoken."  It 
is  Joe  Smith,  thought,  style,  and  all,  from  a  to  izzard, 
And  what  does  it  all  prove  ?  First,  that  Joe  Smith  is 
author  and  proprietor  of  the  Book  of  Mormon,  as  all 
the  world  knows.  Second,  that  they  saw  and  "hefted" 
some  plates  shown  them  by  Smith.  What  if  they  did? 
How  did  they  know  what  or  how  many  plates  Smith 
had  translated,  when  by  their  own  confession,  they  could 
not  read  a  word  on  any  of  them  ?  Joe  Smith  told 
them  so.  And  this  is  all  their  testimony  amounts  to, 
on  the  face  of  it,  by  their  own  showing.  We  are  not 
only  willing,  but  anxious  to  admit  that  Smith  did  show 
some  plates,  of  some  sort ;  and  that  they  actually  tes- 
tify to  the  truth,  so  far  as  they  were  capable  of  know- 
ing it,  we  are  not  only  willing,  but  anxious  to  admit,  in 
order  to  keep  up  a  just  and  charitable  equilibrium  be- 
tween the  knaves  and  fools,  in  Mormonism  and  the 
world  at  large.  Three  to  eight  is  at  once  a  happy  and 
reasonable  proportion.  We  will  not  disturb  it.  It  is 
gratifying  to  human  philanthropy  to  be  able  to  account 
for  all  the  facts  in  the  case  by  this  charitable  solution. 
Three  oi  these  witnesses,  we  are  boastingly  told,  died 
in  the  faith ;  and  we  should  naturally  have  expected 
that  any  man  who  could  have  been  induced  to  set  his 
name  to  such  a  silly  paper  as  that  is,  would  have  died 
in  almost  any  faith.  The  only  thing  that  looks  strange 
about  it  is,  that  all  the  rest,  except  the  brothers  of  the 
prophet,  have  had  sense  enough  to  apostatize  and  leave 
the  church,  (with  proper  discipline,  of  course.)  Per- 
haps it  is  well  for  the  world,  and  well  for  these  three, 
that  they  did  not  live  to  go  the  same  way  with  all  the 
rest,  and  fall  with  Harris  into  "  all  manner  of  abomina- 
tions." 


The  whole,  then,  of  this  mighty  array  of  bombast, 
nonsense,  and  blasphemy,  resolves  itself  into  this  : 

Joe  Smith  is  not  only  author  and  proprietor  of  the 
Book  of  Mormon,  as  both  he  and  his  witnesses  declare, 
but  he  is  also  "  power  of  God,"  "  angel,"  "  voice,"  "faith," 
**  eyes,"  ears  and  hands  for  the  witnesses  themselves  ; 
that  is,  all  the  evidence  the  world  has  for  the  Book  of 
Mormon,  after  all  this  bluster,  is  "  Joe  Smith's  say  so" 
He  says  that  God  instructs  him,  he  instructs  the  wit- 
nesses, and  the  witnesses  instruct  the  world.  Quod 
erat  demonstrandum,.  David  Whitmer  reported  that 
the  angel,  which  appeared  unto  him,  "  was  like  a  man 
in  gray  clothes,  having  his  throat  cut."  This  was  prob- 
ably a  prophetic  vision,  indicating  the  true  desert  of  the 
real  author.* 

Since,  then,  we  are  obliged,  after  all,  to  take  Joe's 
word,  simply,  for  his  new  bible,  it  may  be  interesting 
to  the  world  to  know  how  he  was  enabled  to  translate 
it,  out  of  the  Reformed  Egyptian,  into  "patent  Eng- 
lish." He  has  told  us  that  he  looked  into  his  stone 
spectacles,  and  saw  the  words  pass  before  his  mind. 
But  he  informs  us  more  explicitly  still,  in  the  famous 
book  of  Revelations  and  Covenants,  in  which,  after  all, 
it  must  be  candidly  admitted,  that  the  Lord  has  clearly 
revealed  some  things — -at  least  one,  and  that  is  the  kna- 
very of  Joe  Smith. 

If  the  reader  will  turn  to  the  revelation  given  by 
Smith  to  O.  Cowdery,  in  Harmony,  Penn.,  April,  1829, 

*  In  further  elucidation  of  what  Mormons  mean  by  the  "  power  of 
God,"  the  reader  is  referred  to  B.  M.  420,  421 ;  B.  C.  102,  v.  12—173. 
v.  5.  It  will  there  be  seen  that  this  voice  and  power  of  God  is  a  small 
affair,  which  every  enthusiast  can  have,  and  see  at  any  time  he  pleases, 
especially  if  Smith  is  at  hand. 


i80  MODE    OF    TRANSLATION* 

while  translating  the  Gold  Bible,  (see  B.  C,  110,)  he 
will  perceive  that  Oliver's  faith  had  begun  to  fail.  He 
had  got  tired  of  writing  the  gibberish  of  Smith,  and 
needed  a  word  of  exhortation  and  encouragement. 
Smith's  divinity  gives  him  both,  of  course,  and  also,  to 
pacify  him,  grants  him  the  gift  to  translate,  "  even  as 
my  servant  Joseph,"  (ver.  11.)  At  this,  it  appears  that 
Oliver  took  courage,  put  on  the  spectacles,  planted 
himself,  in  due  order,  before  the  mystic  plates,  and  look- 
ed with  all  his  might,  but  saw  nothing.  Oliver,  of 
course,  becomes  more  uneasy  and  intractable  than  ever. 
He  complains  more  than  before,  and  with  more  reason, 
too.  And  now,  for  a  new  revelation,  of  the  same  date, 
pat  upon  the  other,  which  contained  the  grant  of  the 
gift  to  Oliver  to  translate.* 

We  will  quote  a  verse  or  two  of  this  revelation  from 
Smith's  "  unchanging  Deity."f  Verse  2,  page  162  : 
"  Be  patient,  my  son  Oliver,  for  it  is  wisdom  in  me,  and 
it  is  not  expedient  that  you  should  translate  at  this  pres- 
ent time.  Behold,  the  work  you  are  called  to  do  is  to 
write  for  my  servant  Joseph.  And  behold,  it  is  because 
you  did  not  continue,  as  you  commenced,  when  you 
began  to  translate,  that  I  have  taken  away  this  privi- 
lege from  you.  Do  not  murmur,  my  son,  for  it  is  wis- 
dom in  me  that  I  have  dealt  with  you  after  this  man- 
ner."    (Undoubtedly  ! !) 

Verse  3  :  "  Behold,  you  have  not  understood.  You 
have  supposed  that  I  would  give  it  unto  you,  when  you 
took  no  thought,  save  it  was  to  ask  me.  But  behold,  I 
say  unto  you,  You  must  study  it  out  in  your  own 
mind.  ( ! )     Then  you  must  ask  me  if  it  be  right ;  and 

*  B.  C,  162.  t  See  also  B.  C.f  150. 


MODE    OP    TRANSLATION.  181 

if  it  is  right,  I  will  cause  that  your  bosom  shall  burn 
within  you.  THEREFORE  ( ! ! )  you  shall  feel  that 
it  is  right.  But  if  it  is  not  right,  you  shall  have  no 
such  feelings  ;  but  you  shall  have  a  stupor  of  thought, 
that  shall  cause  you  to  forget  the  thing  which  is  wrong. 
THEREFORE  ( ! ! )  you  cannot  write  that  which  is 
sacred,  save  it  be  given  you  from  me."     2d  ed. 

Here,  in  the  first  place,  we  see  that  Smith's  divinity 
found  it  expedient  "  to  deviate  a  little,"  and  retract  the 
divinity-given  gift  conferred  the  same  day. 

In  the  second,  we  have  his  patent  divine  prescription 
for  writing  things  sacred,  in  detail ;  and,  of  course,  the 
method  which  Smith  has  followed  in  translating  his  bi- 
ble, and  giving  his  other  revelations  to  the  world.  He 
"studied  it  out  in  his  own  mind,"  and  when  he  got 
it  right,  "  his  bosom  burned"  of  course.  With  this  pat- 
ent recipe  before  him,  we  see  not  why  any  man  might 
not  translate,  or  give  revelations,  as  well  as  Smith,  un- 
less he  was  afflicted  with  that  unaccountable  stupor  of 
thought,  which  seems  to  unfit  all  other  Mormons  for  the 
work,  except  Smith.  Perhaps,  if  brother  Cowdery 
should  try  his  hand  at  it  now,  since  he  has  had  wit 
enough  to  leave  the  Mormons,  he  would  succeed  in 
raising  the  needful  heat  better  than  before. 

Those  in  other  churches,  who  are  in  the  habit  of 
practising  upon  the  same  principle,  would  do  well  to 
commit  Smith's  rule  to  memory,  since  it  accurately  de- 
scribes the  process  of  securing  miraculous  confirmations 
of  any  known  or  imagined  truth. 

16 


182  EVIDENCE    PROM    PROPHECY. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

CLAIMS    OF    THE    BOOK    OF    MORMON    TO    CREDIBILITY    AND 
AUTHORITY CONTINUED. 

Evidence  from  prophecy — Internal  evidence— Jared's  barges — One  hun- 
dred and  sixteen  pages  stolen — Patent  English — Style,  authorship,  and 
titles — Real  origin  of  the  Book  of  Mormon — Origin  of  the  stone  spec 
tacles — Smith's  four  years'  vacation— Testimony  of  John  Spaulding— 
of  Henry  Lake — -The  Spaulding  Manuscript — Smith's  meeting  with 
Harris — Probable  mode  of  acquiring  the  book — Wonderful  providen- 
ces— War  with  Missouri  yet  to  come. 

The  next  claim  which  the  Mormons  set  up  is,  that 
they  can  prove  the  truth  of  their  book  from  the  pro- 
phecies of  the  sacred  Scriptures. 

We  confess  we  enter  with  reluctance  upon  a  field 
which  has,  in  all  ages,  been  the  favorite  resort  of  enthu- 
siasts and  dreamers ;  the  prolific  fountain  from  which 
fanaticisms  of  all  shapes  have  leaped  forth,  like  John's 
frogs,  out  of  the  mouth  of  the  dragon,  to  swell  and 
prance  for  a  time,  and  then  retire,  and  leave  the  world 
to  gaze  at  other  wonders,  equally  sublime,  equally  de- 
monstrable, and  equally  absurd. 

These  self-complacent  conjurers  can  all  handle  the 
mystic  symbols  of  Isaiah,  Ezekiel,  and  St.  John,  with 
the  same  ease  and  grace  that  a  well-bred  lady  does 
her  teapot ;  and  each  can  divine  the  coming  destiny  of 
the  world,  from  the  resplendent  bubbles  in  his  own  cho- 
sen urn  of  prophecy,  with  the  same  facility  and  cer- 
tainty as  an  old  woman  can  predict  the  next  visiter, 
from  the  grounds  in  her  cup. 


PROOF   PROM    PROPHECY.  188 

Alternate  famines,  plagues,  wars,  and  milleniums 
start  up  on  all  sides  ;  the  world  comes  quite  up  to  the 
day  of  final  retribution,  misses  it,  and  starts  off  again, 
in  quest  of  new  waters  of  life,  and  visions  of  glory,  in 
the  mirage  ahead.  But  visions,  dates,  wonders,  and 
expositors,  all  retreat  as  it  advances,  to  make  room  for 
a  new  corps  of  conjurers. 

Doubtless  we  are  now  on  the  eve  of  great  events. 
All  say  so,  even  the  inspired  General  at  Nauvoo  ;  and 
many  things,  indeed,  seem  like  it.  But  be  this  as  it 
may,  we  are  surely  under  the  eaves,  and  amid  the  con- 
tinual droppings  of  new  schemes  of  theological  non- 
sense. Our  credulity  is  drenched  through  and  through, 
and  what  little  common  sense  there  ever  was  in  any 
of  us  has  become  so  plastic  and  pliant,  that  it  fits  all 
surfaces  equally  well.  We  doubt  not  that  the  prophe- 
cies of  the  Holy  Scriptures  will  all  be  both  fulfilled  and 
understood,  in  their  own  due  time. 

But,  with  the  immortal  Newton,  we  also  believe  that 
God,  in  giving  them,  did  not  design  to  make  men 
prophets.  On  this  point  we  differ  from  Joe  Smith  and 
all  his  coadjutors,  however  pious  or  impious,  learned  or 
unlearned.  But  as  the  General  has  taken  his  stand,  not 
only  among  the  humble  interpreters  of  prophecies  al- 
ready fulfilled,  but  also  in  the  ranks  of  those  who  look 
deep  and  far  ahead  in  things  divine,  we  must  hear  him. 

The  fundamental  propositions  upon  which  we  are  to 
proceed,  as  the  "  saints"  assure  us,  are  these. 

1.  All  prophecies  which  have  been  heretofore  fulfil- 
led have  been  literally  fulfilled  ;  therefore, 

2.  All  which  are  to  come  must  be  literally  fulfilled 
also.# 

*  See  Pratt's  Voice  of  Warning,  p.  18. 


184  PROOF    FROM    PROPHECY. 

We  will  not  contest  this  ground.  We  will  admit,  if 
the  Mormons  choose,  the  literal  return  of  the  Jews,  the 
literal  rebuilding  of  their  temple  and  city,  and  the  literal 
reign  of  the  Messiah.  But,  after  all,  we  fear  there  may- 
be some  difficulty  in  deciding  what  is,  and  what  is  not, 
the  literal  interpretation  of  prophecy.  Since,  for  ex- 
ample, according  to  the  "saints'"  own  showing,  trees, 
and  golden  heads,  iron  legs,  lions,  bears,  and  brutes 
with  iron  teeth,  in  the  prophetic  visions  which  are  ex- 
plained, mean  kingdoms  and  nations,  according  to  the 
interpretation  both  of  Daniel  and  the  "saints,"  we 
would  ask  how,  in  the  name  of  common  sense,  it  hap- 
pens that  the  same  or  similar  things  may  not  mean  the 
same  or  similar  things  in  those  prophetic  visions  which 
are  unexplained.  Or  are  we  literally,  hereafter,  to  hear 
trumpets  blowing,  see  angels  flying,  vials  pouring, 
dragons  crawling,  horses  prancing,  devils  fighting, 
scorpions  stinging,  pits  smoking,  frogs  leaping,  and  har- 
lots riding?  Are  these  things  to  constitute  the  millen- 
ium  glory  of  the  "Church  of  Latter  Day  Saints?" 
We  confess  they  look  somewhat  like  it.  Or  have  these 
things  been  already  literally  fulfilled  ?  We  know  of 
but  one  event,  in  the  past  history  of  the  world,  which 
much  resembles  it,  and  that  was  in  the  conflict  between 
Joe  Smith  and  Gov.  Boggs,  of  Missouri.  But  perhaps 
these,  and  similar  wonderful  literal  displays  of  prophecy, 
are  reserved  for  Mount  Zion,  in  Jackson  county,  Mo. 
If  so,  we  pardon  the  announcement,  and  dismiss  our 
fears  for  the  present. 

In  this  business  of  interpreting  prophecy,  the  author 
confesses  that  he  is  by  no  means  an  equal  and  suitable 
champion  for  his  Mormon  friends.  He  will  not  there- 
fore enter  profoundly  into  the  subject,  lest  he  should  be 


PROOF    FROM    PROPHECY.  185 

worsted  in  a  good  cause.  The  spiritual  Goliath,  which 
the  sublime  sanctity  of  their  faith  calls  for,  should  be 
able  to  throw  himself  boldly,  and  at  once,  upon  the 
teachings  of  the  Spirit,  without  at  all  relying  even  upon 
the  capacity  to  read  intelligibly  the  English  text,  and 
trust  to  the  Mormon  deity,  or  at  least  to  Joe,  and  Sid- 
ney, and  Parley  Pratt,  to  help  him  out.  I  confess  I 
have  not  faith.  On  their  own  principles  they  ought 
not,  therefore,  to  expect  much  from  me  ;  and  the  pub- 
lic surely  will  not  want  much. 

The  first  point  to  be  made  out  by  the  Mormons  from 
Scripture  is,  that  the  North  American  Indians  are  the 
descendants  of  Joseph,  as  the  Book  of  Mormon  asserts. 

To  this  end,  they  refer  to  Jacob's  blessing  on  the 
seed  of  Joseph,  Genesis  xlix.  ver.  22—26.  In  order 
to  interpret  and  apply  this  passage  literally,  they  make 
Joseph's  bough,  "  running  over  the  wall,"  (verse  22)  to 
mean  the  progenitors  of  the  American  Indians  crossing 
the  Atlantic  ocean  to  this  country.  The  Atlantic 
ocean  is  therefore  the  literal  wall.  Whether  it  is  a 
plastered  wall,  or  a  brick  wall,  or  a  stone  wall,  we  are 
not  informed  ;  at  all  events  it  is  a  literal  wall.  We 
would  respectfully  suggest  to  these  interpreters  whether 
it  would  not  do  to  consider  it  a  mud  wall ;  for  the 
prophet  Shakspeare  speaks  of  the  "  slimy  deep  ;"  and 
when  we  interpret  literally,  we  must  compare  all  pro- 
phets, of  the  Mormon  school,  together,  and  proceed  ac- 
cording to  the  analogy  of  the  faith.  This  is  clear 
enough  then.* 

Verse  23.  "The  archers  have  sorely  grieved  him,  shot 
at  him,  and  hated  him."  This,  they  say,  was  fulfilled 
when  our  forefathers  fought  with  the  Indians ; — with 
*  See  Joshua,  xvii.  14,  15. 


186  PROOF    FROM    PROPHECY. 

bows  and  arrows  of  course,  for  we  must  take  it  literally, 
and  all  know  that  the  people  of  the  United  States  usually 
light  with  bows  and  arrows.  Besides,  it  is  in  the  past 
tense  ;  of  course  our  forefathers  had  already  fought  the 
Indians  before  Jacob  pronounced  the  blessing  upon 
their  progenitor,  Joseph.* 

Verse  24.  "  But  his  bow  abode  in  strength,  and  his  hands 
were  made  strong  by  the  mighty  God  of  Jacob,"  &c. 
This  verse  has  been  literally  fulfilling  upon  the  Indians 
ever  since  the  discovery  of  the  continent,  as  their  im- 
mense increase  and  prosperity  shows.  Ask  Cotton 
Mather  and  the  U.  S.  congress  whether  it  is  not  so. 

In  the  literal  interpretation  of  the  25th  verse,  the  pro- 
phet and  the  Book  of  Mormon  are  to  come  in  and  play 
a  conspicuous  part  in  the  restoration  and  blessing  of  the 
Indians.  But,  not  having  the  stone  spectacles  at  hand, 
we  are  unable  to  give  the  exact  literal  interpretation. 
We  have  heard  the  Mormons  do  it  to  admiration ;  but 
it  requires  a  man  under  the  immediate  guidance  of  the 
spirit,  that  is,  the  spirit  of  Smith ;  but  here  again  our 
faith  fails  us.  We  can  assure  our  readers,  however, 
that  the  verse  is  regarded  as  having  undoubtedly  a 
special  reference  to  Joe  Smith  and  the  Book  of  Mor- 
mon. We  have  heard  the  most  gifted  Mormon  inter- 
preters so  expound  it. 

Verse  26.  "  The  blessing  of  thy  fathers  hath  prevailed 
to  the  utmost  bounds  of  the  everlasting  hills."  "Now, 
reader,"  says  Parley  Pratt,  "  stand  in  Egypt  where  Ja- 
cob stood,  and  measure  to  the  utmost  bounds  of  the 
everlasting  hills,  and  you  will  land  somewhere  in  the 
central  part  of  America."  Bravo  !  Precisely  so.  The 
exact  spot,  however,  in  order  to  be  particularly  literal, 

*  Compare  Genesis,  chap.  37,  for  hatred  of  his  brethren. 


PROOF    FROM    PROPHECY.  187 

would,  no  doubt,  be  found  to  be  Mt.  Zion,  Jackson 
county,  Mo.  But  we  would  respectfully  advise  the 
reader,  as  he  brings  the  sweep  of  his  spiritual  compass 
round  near  Missouri,  to  keep  a  good  look  out  for  Gov. 
Boggs,  lest  he  should  jog  the  moving  foot  a  little,  and 
cause  an  error  in  the  data.  With  this  precaution  the 
measure  will  be  found  accurate. 

This  inspired  exposition  also  throws  light  upon  seve- 
ral other  and  kindred  passages  of  Scripture  which  have 
perplexed  commentators  not  a  little,  as  Matt.  xii.  42, 
where  it  is  said,  the  queen  of  Sheba  came  from  the  ut- 
termost parts  of  the  earth ;  and,  Acts  i.  8,  where  the 
apostles  are  commanded  to  be  witnesses  to  the  utter- 
most parts  of  the  earth.  For,  by  parallel  reasoning, 
the  said  queen  came  from  the  central  parts  of  America, 
and  the  apostles  were  to  preach  there  too.  This  too 
accounts  for  the  fact,  that  the  North  American  Indians 
knew  so  much  about  the  gospel,  before  Christ  was 
born,  as  the  book  of  Smith  shows  that  they  did. 

Again,  Gen.  xlviii.  16,  "  Let  the  sons  of  Joseph  grow 
into  a  multitude  in  the  midst  of  the  earth,"  and 
"  Ephraim's  seed  shall  become  a  multitude  of  nations." 
Again,  says  Pratt,  "  One  of  the  prophets  says,  in  speak- 
ing of  Ephraim,  '  when  the  Lord  shall  roar,  the  chil- 
dren of  Ephraim  shall  tremble  from  the  west/  "  And 
this  prophecy,  like  all  others,  is  to  be  fulfilled  literally. 
When  it  is,  what  a  trembling  there  must  be  in  Missouri, 
and  in  all  the  west !  "  Now,"  says  Pratt, "  put  these  three 
things  together;  first, ' Ephraim  shall  grow  into  a  multi- 
tude of  nations  in  the  midst  of  the  earth  ;'  second,  Joseph 
was  to  be  greatly  blessed  in  a  large  inheritance  as  far 
off  as  America  ;  third,  this  was  to  be  west  from  Egypt, 
or  Jerusalem.     Therefore,  these  scriptures  must  apply  to 


188  PROOF    FROM    PROPHECY. 

America,  because  they  can  apply  nowhere  else."  This  in- 
spired logic  reminds  one  of  the  boy  who  said  that  oranges 
grew  on  pine  trees  ;  for,  if  not,  where  did  they  grow  ? 
Having  thus  got  the  seed  of  Joseph  safely  over  the 
"wall,"  we  are  next  referred  to  the  37th  chapter,  16th 
verse,  of  Ezekiel,  where  we  are  told  that  the  stick  of 
Ephraim,  or  Joseph,  means  the  Book  of  Mormon,*  and 
the  stick  of  Judah  the  Bible.  Joe  Smith  is  of  course 
the  literal  Ezekiel,  in  whose  hands  they  are  to  be  joined. 
I  suppose  the  Book  of  Mormon  is  here  literally  called 
a  stick,  because  it  is  the  instrument  with  which  Joe 
Smith  belabors  the  backs  of  his  dupes.  But  why  the 
Bible  should  be  literally  called  a  stick,  or  why  Joe 
Smith  should  be  the  literal  Ezekiel,  it  is  not  so  easy  to 
divine.  Moreover,  this  said  stick  of  Joseph,  the  Book 
of  Mormon,  was  to  be  found  in  the  hands  of  Ephraim, 
that  is,  in  the  hands  of  the  North  American  Indians, 
from  whom  Smith  professed  to  have  inherited  it.  But 
by  comparing  the  first  part  of  chapter  7,  of  the  Book 
of  Alma,f  with  the  title-page,  the  first  page,  and  the 
testimony  of  the  witnesses,  on  the  last  page  of  the  Book 
of  Mormon,  the  reader  will  see  that,  according  to  the 
Book  of  Mormon  itself,  there  never  was  a  literal  de- 
scendant of  Ephraim  on  this  continent,  but  that  the 
several  tribes  were  all  from  Manasseh.  Still,  we  must 
take  it  literally.  Where,  then,  are  the  Ephraimites,  or 
the  ten  tribes,  who  are  to  hold  this  stick  ?  The  Book 
of  Mormon  says  not  a  word  about  the  tribe  of  Ephraim, 
or  any  of  the  ten  tribes  except  that  of  Manasseh.  This 
was  a  sad  mistake  in  the  prophet :  probably  the  type 

*  B.  C,  180.  2.  t  B.  M.,  248  of  first  and  264  of  the  second 

edition. 


PROOF  FROM  PROPHECY.  189 

will  need  correcting,  as  regards  this  genealogy  of  the 
Indians,  in  the  next  inspired  edition  of  Smith's  book. 

Again,  this  union  of  sticks,  whether  we  interpret  liter- 
ally, or  metaphysically,  or  grandiloquently,  or  spiritu- 
ally, must  still  refer  to  a  union,  not  of  two  sticks,  but 
of  two  people,  viz — the  ten  tribes,  or  children  of  Israel, 
and  the  children  of  Judah,  as  the  21st  and  22d  verses 
plainly  show.  Where  are  these  ten  lost  tribes?  Does 
the  Book  of  Mormon  tell  ?  Can  Smith  tell  ?  Pratt,  on 
this  point,  exultingly exclaims — Can  anyone  tell  whether 
the  Indians  of  America  are  of  Israel,  unless  the  Lord 
should  reveal  it?*  Answer — No.  Therefore  Joe  Smith 
cannot  tell,  any  more  than  Cock  Robin  can.  But  as  we 
are  informed,  on  the  same  page,  that  "our  very  existence 
depends  on  an  immediate  understanding  of  the  impor- 
tant prophecies  of  the  Book  of  Mormon,"  we  would 
beg  to  have  some  of  these  difficulties  solved. 

Again,  we  are  told  that  the  verse  in  the  85th  Psalm — 
"  Truth  shall  spring  out  of  the  earth,  and  righteousness 
shall  look  down  from  heaven" — refers  to  Smith's  digging 
the  Book  of  Mormon  out  of  the  hill  Camorah  !  On  that 
memorable  night,  say  the  "  saints,"  truth  sprung  out  of 
the  earth.  We  are  disposed  to  admit,  that,  on  that 
woful  night,  so  far  as  Smith  and  his  followers  are  con- 
cerned, truth,  and  common  sense  too,  sprung  away  from 
the  earth,  and  righteousness  has  looked  down,  every- 
where, and  with  good  reason  too.  We  would  gladly 
encourage  her  to  look  up  again. 

We  have  now  not  only  got  Israel  over  the  "  wall," 
but  also  beyond  the  utmost  bounds  of  the  everlasting 
hills ;  and  we  are  content  to  leave  them  there,  books, 
sticks,  and  all,  without  tracing  further  either  the  literal 

*  Voice  of  Warning,  p.  135. 


190  PROOF  FROM  PROPHECY. 

Mormon  interpretation  of  the  29th  of  Isaiah,  or  of  the 
other  prophecies  of  the  Old  Testament. 

We  will,  however,  stop  one  moment  to  look  at  the 
angel  spoken  of  in  vi.  7,  of  Revelation,  as  flying  in 
the  midst  of  heaven,  &c.  And  who,  gentle  reader,  do 
you  think  this  angel  is,  according  to  the  "  saints"? 
Why,  we  are  told  that  it  is  the  angel  who  delivered  the 
plates  to  Joe  Smith,  on  the  hill  Camorah,  New  York  !# 
We  must  remember  to  take  it  literally.  Smith  pretends 
that  the  gospel,  which  the  angel  had  when  John  saw 
him,  was  the  Book  of  Mormon.  When  Smith  saw  this  an- 
gel, he  says,  he  was  standing  on  the  hill  Camorah.  and  the 
book,  or  gospel,  was  lying  in  a  stone  box,  where  it  had 
been  lying  for  fourteen  hundred  years.  John,  of  course, 
therefore,  saw  him  in  his  vision,  after  Smith  saw  him 
personally,  and  after  he  had  got  the  book,  and  was  fly- 
ing away  with  it ;  and  neither  John  nor  Smith  pretends 
that  he  ever  brought  it  back  again.  The  angel,  it  seems, 
flew  away  with  the  book,  and  left  Smith  to  patch  up 
his  lying  marvels,  as  best  he  could,  out  of  whatever  old 
manuscripts  he  might  chance  to  find,  whether  Spauld- 
ing's  or  those  of  others.  Probably  he  made  the  best  of 
his  way  towards  the  ten  lost  tribes,  near  Symmes'  Hole, 
where  Smith  at  first  told  his  dupes  these  tribes  had  been 
for  centuries,  hedged  in  by  mountains  of  ice,  which  the 
fervor  of  his  inspiration  was  soon  to  melt,  and  let  them 
flow  down,  on  rivers  of  gold,  to  Mount  Zion,  in  Jackson 
county,  Mo. 

In  one  respect,  however,  it  must  be  confessed  that 
this  divine  prophecy  applies  literally  to  Smith.     The 
angel  said  that  the  hour  of  God's  judgment  had  come, 
as,  indeed,  it  has,  upon  all  the  dupes  of  Joe  Smith. 
*  See  B.  C,  248. 


INTERNAL  EVIDENCE.  191 

If  these  specimens  of  inspired  literal  interpretation 
of  prophecy  do  not  satisfy  both  the  "  saints"  and  the 
reader,  we  will  give  more  when  we  write  again  on  this 
subject. 

4.  We  will  next  consider,  in  brief,  the  claims  of  the 
Book  of  Mormon  on  the  ground  of  its  own  internal  ex- 
cellence. 

The  "  saints"  contend  that  there  has  been  no  true 
church  on  earth,  before  their  own,  for  several  hundred 
years.  In  this  we  think  they  are  too  fast ;  for  we  read 
in  the  Book  of  Mormon,  page  192,  that  one  Alma  went 
into  the  fountain  of  Mormon  and  baptized  both  himself 
and  his  companions. 

Now  the  "  saints"  do  not  positively  know,  that,  in 
the  general  darkness  of  the  church,  some  other  pious 
individual  may  not  have  been  taught  of  the  Mormon 
Spirit  to  do  the  same  thing,  and  thus  to  institute  a  pure 
church  even  amidst  heathenish  darkness.  Who  bap- 
tized Joe  Smith  before  he  baptized  the  rest,  in  Fayette, 
N.  Y. ?  Did  he  also  first  baptize  himself?  or  did  a 
good  or  a  bad  angel  do  it  for  him  ?  For,  according  to 
his  own  showing,  there  was  no  man  on  earth  fit  to 
do  it. 

We  read  in  II.  Kings,  xvii.  20,  "  That  the  Lord  re- 
jected  all  the  seed  of  Israel,  (the  ten  tribes,)  and  deliv- 
ered them  into  the  hands  of  the  spoiler,  until  he  had 
cast  them  out  of  his  sight."  Verse  18  :  "  There  was 
none  left,  but  the  house  of  Judah  only"  I.  Kings,  xii. 
20  :  "  There  was  none  that  followed  the  house  of  Da- 
vid, but  the  tribe  of  Judah  only." 

How,  then,  came  Joe  Smith  to  find  out  that  one  of 
the  families  of  Manasseh  were  not  only  spared,  but 


192  INTERNAL    EVIDENCE. 

followed,  with  the  peculiar  and  miraculous  care  of  God, 
for  hundreds  of  years  after  ? 

In  Numbers,  iii.  10,  Deut.,  xxi.  5,  Num.,  xvi.  19,  and 
chap,  xviii.,  it  will  be  seen  that  the  Lord  irrevocably 
conferred  the  priesthood  on  the  house  of  Aaron,  slew 
250  officiates  and  above  14,000  of  the  people,  as  a  me- 
morial that  no  other  tribe  should  intermiddle  therewith. 
Paul  also  informs  us,  Heb.,  vii.  13,  that  even  Christ 
could  not  be  a  Jewish  priest,  because  he  was  not  of  the 
house  of  Aaron. 

Yet  Smith  finds  the  North  American  Indians,  who 
were,  by  his  own  showing,  every  soul  of  them  of  the 
tribe  of  Manasseh,  not  only  building  temples  5000  miles 
from  Jerusalem,  where  alone  the  Jews  were  to  wor- 
ship, but  offering  sacrifice,  and  performing  all  the  func- 
tions of  the  priesthood,  acceptably  to  the  Lord,  and  still 
exhorting  each  other  to  keep  the  law  of  Moses.* 
Moreover,  even  God  himself  is  represented  as  inspiring 
this  Manassite,  whom  the  Bible  informs  us  he  had 
cursed  "  out  of  his  sight,"  guiding  him  across  unknown 
wastes  and  trackless  floods,  and  finally  miraculously 
establishing  and  ratifying  his  sacrilegious  worship  in 
these  western  wilds.  Here  they  baptize,  found 
churches,  and  discuss  and  decide  all  the  petty  theo- 
logical controversies,  which  have  happened  to  rage,  in 
the  state  of  New- York,  since  Joe  Smith  was  born. 
For  obvious  reasons,  these  inspired  visions  seem  to 
have  concentrated  solely  upon  a  single  age  and  a  sin- 
gle state.  They  make,  also,  some  very  judicious  sug- 
gestions as  regards  republican  freedom,  freemasonry, 
navigation,  shipbuilding,  mariners'  compasses,  manu- 

*  B.  M.,  146,  208-9. 


INTERNAL    EVIDENCE.  193 

facturing  glass,  &c,  &c,  and  all  this,  in  part  before 
the  birth  of  Christ,  and  in  wholes  tjefore  the  close  of  the 
fifth  century ;  while  still  they  did  not  know  either 
where  Christ  was  born,#  or  that  the  Jews  were  not 
Christians  before  his  birth. 

The  prophet  may  either  class  the  above  among  the 
internal  evidences  of  his  book,  or  set  them  down  as 
proofs  of  its  inspiration,  derived  from  the  Scriptures,  as 
he  chooses  ;  and  when  he  has  satisfactorily  settled  their 
location,  it  will  be  easy  to  furnish  him  with  many  more 
proofs  o£  the  same  kind. 

That  there  is  not  much  important  truth  in  Smith's 
book,  no  one  will  affirm.  The  Bible,  and  the  abundant 
quotations  from  it,  garbled  and  perverted  though  they 
are,  have  shed  a  moral  light  upon  its  pages,  which  not 
even  the  stupidity,  the  vulgarity,  and  sacrilegious  profa- 
nation of  Smith  could  wholly  extinguish. 

This  often  deceives  the  stupid,  the  credulous,  and  the 
unwary.  They  pronounce  it  a  very  good  book,  and 
so,  indeed,  it  would  be,  so  far  as  its  moral  teaching  is 
concerned,  did  it  only  profess  to  be  what  it  really  is, 
"  a  vulgar  romance  of  the  lowest  order."  But,  in  that 
case,  it  would  soon  rot  on  the  shelves  of  the  antiquary. 
Many,  on  reading  it  now,  say,  "  It  is  not  so  bad  as  we 
thought  it  was  ;"  "  it  reads  much  like  the  Bible !" 
"  How  people  have  misrepresented  it !"  They  do  not 
consider  that  there  is  not  a  single  idea  in  it,  excepting 
such  as  have  been  stolen  from  the  Scriptures,  which  is 
not  either  useless,  or  ridiculous,  or  absurd. 

We  will  give  but  one  specimen  of  its  originality,  and 
that  is  the  description  of  Jared's  barges,  in  the  book  of 
Ether,  page  542  of  the  first  edition.     It  must  be  re- 

*  B.  M.,  240. 
9 


194  JARED^S    BARGES, 

membered,  that  our  prophet  had  been  raised  in  the  in- 
terior of  New-York,,  and  probably  never  saw  even  a 
correct  picture  of  a  ship  in  his  life.  When  he  entered 
upon  the  task  of  describing  one,  therefore,  the  attempt 
was  more  hazardous  than  either  repeating  the  substance 
of  Spaulding's  old  manuscript,  or  stealing  extracts  from 
the  Bible.     The  reader  will  judge  of  his  success. 

"And  it  came  to  pass,  that  the  brother  of  Jared  built 
barges  according  to  the  instructions  of  the  Lord.  And 
they  were  small,  and  they  were  light  upon  the  water, 
even  like  unto  the  lightness  of  a  fowl  upon  the  water ; 
and  they  were  built  after  a  manner  that  they  were  ex- 
ceeding tight,  even  that  they  would  hold  water  like 
unto  a  dish.  And  the  bottom  thereof  was  tight,  like 
unto  a  dish,  and  the  sides  thereof  was  tight,  like  unto 
a  dish  :  and  the  ends  thereof  were  peaked,  and  the 
top  thereof  was  tight,  like  unto  a  dish  ;  and  the  length 
thereof  was  the  length  of  a  tree  ;  and  the  door  there- 
of was  tight,  like  unto  a  dish. 

"  And  it  came  to  pass  that  the  brother  of  Jared  cried 
unto  the  Lord,  saying :  Oh  Lord,  I  have  made  the 
barges  according  as  thou  hast  directed  me.  And  be- 
hold, O  Lord,  there  is  no  light  in  them,  whither  we 
shall  steer.  And  also  we  shall  perish  ;  for  in  them  we 
cannot  breathe  save  the  air  which  is  in  then) :  there- 
fore we  shall  perish.  And  the  Lord  said  unto  Jared, 
Behold,  thou  shalt  make  a  hole  in  the  top  thereof,  and 
also  in  the  bottom  thereof;  and  when  thou  shalt  suffer 
for  air,  thou  shalt  unstop  the  hole  thereof  and  receive 
air.  And  if  it  be  that  the  water  come  in  upon  thee, 
behold,  ye  shall  stop  the  hole  thereof,  that  ye  may  not 
perish  in  the  flood.  And  it  came  to  pass  that  the 
brother  of  Jared  did  so,  as  the  Lord  had  commanded. 


jared's  barges,  195 

And  he  cried  again  unto  the  Lord,  saying :  0  Lord,  I 
have  done  as  thou  hast  commanded,  I  have  prepared 
the  vessels  for  my  people,  and  behold,  there  is  no  light 
in  them.  Behold,  O  Lord,  wilt  thou  suffer  that  we 
should  cross  this  great  water  in  darkness  ?  And  the 
Lord  said  unto  the  brother  of  Jared,  What  will  ye  that 
I  should  do,  that  ye  may  have  light  in  your  vessels  ? 
for  behold,  ye  cannot  have  windows,  for  they  will  be 
dashed  in  pieces.  Neither  shall  ye  take  fire  with  you, 
for  ye  shall  not  go  by  the  light  of  fire  ;  for  behold,  ye 
shall  be,  as  a  whale  in  the  midst  of  the  sea,  for  the 
mountain  waves  shall  dash  upon  you.  Nevertheless, 
I  will  bring  you  up  again  out  of  the  depths  of  the  sea  ; 
for  the  winds  have  gone  forth  out  of  my  mouth,  and 
also  the  rains  and  the  floods  have  I  sent  forth.  And 
behold,  I  prepare  you  (?)  against  these  things :  for 
howbeit  ye  cannot  cross  this  great  deep  save  I  prepare 
you  against  the  waves  of  the  sea,  and  the  winds  that 
have  gone  forth,  and  the  floods  that  shall  come.  There- 
fore what  will  ye  that  I  should  prepare  for  you,  that 
ye  may  have  light  when  ye  are  swallowed  up  in  the 
depths  of  the  sea?" 

"  And  it  came  to  pass  that  the  brethren  of  Jared 
went  forth  unto  a  mountain,  and  did  moulten  out  of  a 
rock  sixteen  small  stones,  and  they  were  white  and 
clear,  even  as  transparent  as  glass.  And  he  did  carry 
them  in  his  hands  upon  the  top  of  the  mount,  and  cried 
again  unto  the  Lord,  saying — *  Oh  Lord,  touch  these 
stones  with  thy  finger,  and  prepare  them  that  they  may 
shine  forth  in  darkness,  that  we  may  have  light  when 
we  shall  cross  the  sea.'  And  it  came  to  pass  that  the 
Lord  stretched  forth  his  hand  and  touched  the  stones, 
one  by  one,  with  his  finger,  and  the  brethren  of  Jared 


196  HUNDRED  AND  SIXTEEN  PAGES. 

saw  the  finger  of  the  Lord,  and  it  was  the  finger  of  a 
man,  like  unto  flesh  and  blood"  ! 

It  will  be  observed  that  these  barges  or  boats  were 
built  "  according  to  the  instructions  of  the  Lord ;"  that 
they  were  made  tight  as  a  dish,  bottom,  sides,  top,  door, 
and  all ;  though  it  is  as  difficult  to  say  how  tight  the 
top  of  a  dish  is,  as  it  is  to  say,  definitely,  how  long  a 
tree  is,  or  how  peaked  the  ends  were,  or  what  sort  of 
fowl  is  intended.  But,  as  they  were  built  from  definite 
instructions,  we  may  presume  that  they  were  as  tight  as 
a  teapot,  about  as  long  as  a  "  piece  of  chalk,"  as  light 
as  a  turkey-buzzard,  and  as  peaked  as  a  hay-stack,  or 
thereabouts.  This  is  as  near  as  we  can  approximate 
to  the  exact  idea,  without  the  inflatus  of  direct  Mormon 
inspiration. 

It  will  be  seen  at  once,  tbat  in  barges  intended  to 
traverse  the  Atlantic  ocean,  a  hole  in  the  bottom  would 
be  indispensable,  in  order  to  furnish  the  crew  with  sea- 
water  to  drink  ;  and  a  hole  in  the  top  would  be  equally 
necessary  for  fresh  air,  especially  when  these  sea-fowl 
barges  should  choose  to  dive,  and  sail  under  water  for 
a  while.  Hence,  the  plugs  for  the  holes  would  be 
equally  necessary  after  they  had  "  squenched"  their 
thirst,  as  the  prophet  would  say. 

The  only  wonder  is,  that  the  Mormon  deity  did  not 
think  of  these  things,  and  of  the  ten  stones  "  moulten" 
out  of  a  rock,  before  Jared's  brother  suggested  them  ; 
but,  in  building  so  many  great  barges,  how  could  he 
think  of  every  thing  ?  Perhaps,  too,  the  devil  had  just 
been  plaguing  him  about  the  hundred  a  sixteen  pages. 
And  here  we  will  give  the  story  of  these  pages  at 
length,  as  one  of  the  internal  evidences  of  the  divine 
authority  of  the  book. 


HUNDRED  AND  SIXTEEN  PAGES.  197 

• 

In  the  summer  of  1828,  while  Harris  was  writing 
Smith's  translation  for  him,  he  took  one  hundred  and 
sixteen  pages,  which  he  had  finished,  put  them  in  a 
drawer,  and  locked  it,  but  forgot  to  lock  the  drawer 
above.  Mrs.  Harris,  his  wife,  taking  advantage  of 
the  oversight,  slipped  out  the  top  drawer,  and  took 
away  the  manuscript.  Harris  demanded  it.  She  re- 
fused to  give  it  up.  He  beat  her,  as  we  have  seen  in 
her  affidavit,  but  she  still  persisted.  She  properly  told 
him  that,  if  God  had  translated  it  once,  he  could  do  it 
again  ;  and  her  friends  encouraged  her  to  keep  the  first 
copy  to  compare  with  the  second.  Here  was  a  dilemma. 
Seemingly,  either  to  write  or  not  to  write  again,  was 
ruin,  for  they  had  already  announced  that  they  had 
written  the  history  of  the  origin  of  the  Nephites,  or 
American  aborigines.  The  guiding  divinity  of  Smith, 
whom  he  calls  the  Lord,  wanted,  it  seems,  some  time  to 
think  of  it.  Accordingly,  in  July,  1828,  he  gives  Smith 
a  revelation,*  in  which,  after  rebuking  him  for  his  neg- 
ligence, and  intimating  that  his  work  was  ended  for  the 
present,  he  kindly  informs  him  that  after  due  repent- 
ance he  shall  be  called  again  to  the  work.  From 
July,  1828,  to  May,  1S29,  it  seems  that  this  Lord  had 
sufficient  time  to  consider,  and  Smith  to  repent,  and, 
accordingly,  at  that  time  Smith  had  another  revelation,^ 
in  which  his  divinity  attempted  to  conceal,  as  well  as  he 
could,  the  awkwardness  of  Smith's  position ;  and  after 
uttering  now  a  word  of  consolation,  now  a  threat,  and 
now  a  bluster,  he  at  last,  with  much  swaggering,  comes 
to  the  point,  grapples  in  with  Satan,  and  explicitly 
charges  him  with  stealing  the   hundred  and   sixteen 

*  B.  C.  156.  t  B.  C.  163. 


198  FRONTISPIECE. 

• 

pages.  But,  as  Satan  was  not  there  to  deny  it,  nor  Mrs. 
Harris  to  own  it,  he  most  manfully  addresses  himself  at 
once  to  the  task  of  outwitting  the  devil ;  since,  after 
ten  months'  trial,  he  could  neither  flatter  nor  force  him 
to  give  up  the  record  which  he  had  preserved,  with  such 
miraculous  care,  through  fourteen  hundred  years,  and 
on  which,  we  are  assured,  the  salvation  of  the  world 
depended.  But  these  ten  months'  reflection  not  only 
prepared  him  for  the  valorous  enterprise  before  him, 
but  most  fortunately,  in  the  mean  time,  he  discovered 
that  he  had  also  another  set  of  plates,  called  plates  of 
Nephi,  which,  though  different,  were  just  as  good,  and 
even  better  than  the  plates  of  Lehi.  "  Now,"  says  he, 
"  the  devil  has  got  a  part  of  the  record  from  the  plates 
of  Lehi,  and  we  can't  get  it  again  ;  but  we  will  outwit 
him,  Jose,  for  I  have  got  some  more  just  as  good,  and 
better  too." 

I  have  heard  many  Mormons  say  that  there  were 
wonderful  things  in  the  Book  of  Mormon.  I  agree 
with  them.  I  think  this  the  most  wonderful  instance  of  a 
deity's  outwitting  the  devil  anywhere  on  record.  The 
Mormons  surely  ought  to  return  their  sincere  thanks  to 
his  satanic  majesty,  for,  by  Smith's  own  showing,  they 
have  got  a  much  better  revelation,  one  which  "  throws 
much  greater  views  upon  the  gospel,"'*  than  they  would 
have  had  if  he  had  not  kindly,  though  mischievously, 
interposed  ;  for  Smith's  divinity  himself  acknowledges, 
in  the  last  revelation,  after  taking  ten  months  to  reflect 
upon  it,  that  it  is  indeed  wisdom  to  translate  the  other 
plates.  I  wonder  if  the  devil  borrowed  the  Lord's 
barges  to  carry  off  the  record  with  ?     It  seems  both 

*  B.  C.  165. 


PATENT  ENGLISH.  199 

rational  and  probable,  for,  in  that  case,  their  wonderful 
power  of  diving  would  render  the  recovery  of  the  re- 
cord quite  impossible.  And  yet,  (if  the  reader  will  be- 
lieve it,)  Smith  not  only  had  the  impudence  to  publish 
these  revelations  at  length  to  the  world  in  the  Book  of 
Covenants,  but  he  also  attached  an  abstract  of  them,  as 
a  preface,  to  the  first  edition  of  the  Book  of  Mormon ! 
He  threw  out  this  absurd  nonsense  on  the  very  first 
page  of  his  book  !     Surely  he  must  have  desired,  as  he 

is  once  reported  to  have  said,  "  to  see  what  the  d d 

fools  would  believe." 

This,  nowever,  was  a  little  too  much  even  for  Mor- 
mons ;  and,  in  the  second  inspired  edition  of  the  Book 
of  Mormon,  Smith's  divinity  deemed  it  prudent  to  reckon 
this  whole  preface  among  the  "  typographical  errors  of 
the  first  edition,"  and  accordingly  threw  it  out  alto- 
gether. But  it  is  retained,  with  some  few  modifications, 
in  the  second  edition  of  the  Book  of  Commandments, 
for  the  edification  of  the  "  saints."  With  this  plain, 
matter-of-fact  exposition,  I  should  hope,  were  not  hope 
in  such  a  case  utterly  in  vain,  that  they  too  may  be  illu- 
minated by  its  truth. 

After  all,  Smith,  according  to  his  own  showing,  dis- 
obeyed the  express  command  of  God,  and  gave  his 
whole  history  to  the  world  from  the  plates  of  Nephi, 
instead  of  only  that  part  which  had  been  stolen,  as  the 
Lord  commanded  him.  This  may  be  seen  by  com- 
paring the  preface  of  the  first  edition,  or  B.  C.  163,  with 
the  testimony  of  the  eight  and  title-page  of  the  Book 
of  Mormon.* 

In  a  revelation,  given  March,  1829,f  Smith  is  com- 

*  See  also  B.  M.  464,  532,  151,  &c.        t  B.  C.  159 :  also  B.  M.  548, 


200  PATENT    ENGLISH, 

manded  to  bring  forth  his  book,  under  the  testimony  of 
three  witnesses,  and  no  more. 

But  when  these  three  chosen  witnesses  had  become 
so  notoriously  infamous,  that  it  was  rendered  expedient 
to  seek  for  eight  more,  it  seems  that  the  passages  on 
pages  86,  110,  &c,  in  the  Book  of  Mormon,  were  in- 
terpolated to  make  room  for  the  valorous  eight,  while 
the  above  passages  were  overlooked.  It  will,  however, 
probably  ail  come  right  in  future  corrections  of  "  the 
errors  of  the  press." 

We  must  remember  that,  according  to  Smith's  story, 
the  Lord  is  responsible  not  only  for  the  thought,  but 
also  for  the  language,  of  this  new  translation.  The 
words  of  the  translation  were  read  off  through  the 
stone  spectacles. 

On  page  548,  B.  M.,  it  is  pronounced  "  a  work  in 
the  which  shall  be  shown  forth  the  power  of  God." 

We  will  give  a  few  specimens  of  this  patent  English, 
showing  forth  the  linguistic  power  of  Smith's  divinity. 

"  Plates  of  which  hath  been  spoken"  (see  testimony, 
preface,  pages  335,  '6,  &c.)  When  the  "law  had 
ought  to  be  done  away"  (p.  106)  ;  "knowledge  of  they 
which  are  at  Jerusalem  ;"  "  concerning  they  which  shall 
be  scattered"  (56)  ;  "  unto  they  which  are  of  the  house 
of  Israel"  (57);  "unto  all  they  that  believe"  (107); 
"  unto  all  they  that  are  filled  with  the  Spirit ;"  "for  be- 
cause they  yieldeth  unto  the  devil"  (107)  ;  "I  had  spake 
many  things  unto  them  ;"  "  for  a  more  history  part  are 
written  upon  mine  other  plates"  (69) ;  "  I  who  ye  call 
your  king  ;"  "  they  saith  unto  the  king"  (182). 

But  it  is  in  vain ;  these  things  are  found  on  every 
page  of  the  first  edition.  No  accurate  idea  can  be 
given  of  this  patent  inspired  English  without  reprint- 


PHILOSOPHY    OP   THE    STYLE.  201 

ing  the  whole  book.  On  page  533,  we  are  told  that 
u  if  there  be  faults,  they  be  the  faults  of  man :"  this  we 
never  doubted.  But,  since  we  are  informed  that  this 
translation  was  made  through  certain  stone  spectacles, 
which  the  Lord  has  kept  from  the  beginning,  for  the 
special  purpose  of  translating  and  revealing  words  to 
mortal  eyes,*  the  profane  may  wonder  at  the  awkward 
result.  -i 

Not  so  the  devout  "  saint"  of  the  Mormon  school. 
He  knows  how  the  devil  pestered  and  perplexed  Smith's 
divinity,  through  the  whole  process  of  translation  ;  and 
it  is  reasonable  to  suppose,  that  due  watchfulness  over 
this  mischievous  imp  had  confined  this  said  divinity  for 
several  years  exclusively  to  the  vicinity  of  Western 
New-York.  The  philosophic  mind  will  readily  see  that 
such  confinement  would  necessarily  tend  to  fasten  upon 
his  style  all  the  peculiar  vulgarisms  of  Western  New- 
York,  to  the  exclusion  of  all  others. 

We  are  more  inclined  to  this  view  of  the  case,  be- 
cause we  notice,  that  after  he  got  the  matter  finally  ar- 
ranged with  the  devil,  the  language,  in  the  second  in- 
spired edition,  is  much  improved.  After  this  remarka- 
ble divinity  had  availed  himself  of  some  rest,  and  much 
leisure  to  travel  with  Smith,  we  not  only  find  the  gen- 
eral style  of  his  subsequent  revelations  much  improved, 
but  even  New-York  vulgarisms  give  place  to  those  of 
a  more  Western  origin. 

Some  have  attributed  these  gradual  improvements, 
in  more  recent  editions  and  revelations,  to  extensive 
practice  on  the  part  of  Smith,  and  the  correcting  hand 
of  Rigdon. 

We  discard  the  profane  suggestion.     Others  com- 

*  B.  M.,  216. 
9* 


202  AUTHORSHIP   AND   TITLES. 

plain  that  the  entire  style  of  some  twenty  different  wri- 
ters, of  as  many  different  ages,  is  one  and  the  same  thing 
from  beginning  to  end — testimony  of  the  witnesses, 
preface,  title-page,  and  all — while  the  styles  of  no  other 
two  writers  on  earth,  sacred  or  profane,  are  alike,  but 
exhibit  totally  different  characteristics. 

This,  however,  is  readily  accounted  for  upon  the 
doctrine  of  the  three  unities,  as  every  scholar  knows. 
We  are  told  that  this  is  a  "  perfect  gospel,"  and  we 
know  that  every  perfect  composition  should  possess 
perfect  unity  of  thought  and  style.  The  prophet's  book 
adds  but  one  excellence  more,  and  that  is  a  perfect  va- 
cuity of  both. 

Here,  then,  are  the  three  unities — unity  of  thought, 
unity  of  style,  and  unity  of  vacuums.  Uniformity  of 
style  is  indeed  an  excellence,  which  it  possesses  in  the 
highest  degree.  It  is  all  Joe  Smith,  from  preface  to 
finis,  testimonies  and  all.  Joe  Smith  is  sole  author  and 
proprietor,  as  he  himself  claimed  on  the  title-page  of 
the  first  edition ;  and  why  he  should  have  abandoned 
that  claim,  and  called  himself  a  mere  translator,  in  the 
second  edition,  we  cannot  divine.  Perhaps  he  had  that 
revelation  in  mind,  which  commanded  him  "  to  aspire 
to  no  other  gift,  save  to  translate  ;"  but  from  which  re- 
striction he  has  been  released  by  the  interpolated  clauses 
of  the  second  inspired  edition. 

From  this  brief  view  of  the  internal  evidence  of  the 
Book  of  Mormon,  we  are  happy  to  inform  the  public 
that,  in  one  point  at  least,  we  fully  agree  with  the 
prophet — viz,  that  Joseph  Smith,  jr.,  "  President,  seer, 
translator,  prophet,  apostle,  and  elder  of  the  church  of 
Latter  Day  Saints  throughout  the  earth ;"  "  Dealer  in 
town  lots,  temples,  merchandise,  bank  stock,  and  prairie 


REAL    ORIGIN    OP    THE    B.    M.  203 

lands,  retailer  of  books,  stationery,  cap,  letter,  fool,  and 
wrapping  paper,  and  General  of  Nauvoo  Militia," 
is  the  real,  sole  author  and  proprietor  of  the  Book  of 
Mormon,  in  its  present  form,  as  he  himself  claims,  in 
spite  of  the  injunction  to  aspire  to  no  other  gift,  save  to 
translate.      Quod  erat  demonstrandum. 

The  reader  will  find  that  all  these  titles  are  really- 
claimed  by  the  prophet,  by  consulting  the  "  Book  of 
Covenants,"  and  the  "  Times  and  Seasons." 

But  although  we  admit  that  Smith  is  the  author  and 
proprietor  of  the  Book  of  Mormon  as  it  now  is,  still 
we  feel 'bound  to  advert  to  the  original  sources  of  the 
ideas  which  are  found  in  that  book.  And  in  the  first 
place,  in  utter  mockery  and  defiance  of  all  chronology, 
all  history,  sacred  or  profane,  all  order  of  time,  place, 
or  style,  and  of  all  common  sense  too,  this  book  is  be- 
spangled from  beginning  to  end  not  only  with  thoughts 
of  sacred  writers,  but  with  copious  verbal  extracts  from 
King  James'  translation,  as  well  as  with  an  appropriate 
adjudication  of  all  the  New  York  controversies  of  the 
day.  The  controversies  of  Europe,  and  of  different 
portions  of  the  Union,  apart  from  the  state  of  New 
York,  Smith's  guardian  genius  seems,  in  a  great  mea- 
sure, to  have  overlooked,  either  as  unworthy  of  notice, 
or  because  his  attention  for  the  time  was  confined  to  the 
golden  plates,  of  "  which  hath  been  spoken." 

It  is  also  observable  that  Smith's  inspiring  spirit  uses 
very  decent  language  when  he  confines  himself  strictly 
to  King  James'  translation.  In  this  lies  the  crowning 
excellency  of  the  book.  In  spite  of  their  monstrous 
perversions,  these  extracts  from  sacred  writ  shine  like 
jewels  in  a  dunghill.  Isaiah,  the  prophets,  and  apostles, 
and  Joe  Smith,  side  by  side,  are  like  a  team  of  alternate 


204  smith's  stone  spectacles. 

lions  and  polecats.  Still  this  is  not  a  full  account  of  the 
matter.  Although  any  blunderhead,  with  the  Bible  at 
his  side,  might  have  written  the  book,  and  the  greater 
the  blunderhead  the  better,  still  there  are  some  reasons 
to  believe  that  Smith  is  not  the  original  author  even  of 
the  gibberish  that  constitutes  the  plot  of  the  comedy. 
A  word  therefore  upon  this  point  will  not  be  amiss. 
And  first,  as  regards  the  origin  of  the  stone  spectacles 
which  Smith  tells  us  the  Lord  keeps  for  translating  rev- 
elations, and  which  he  lent  to  Smith  for  that  purpose, 
Smith  has  told  us  part  of  the  truth ;  we  will  tell  the 
whole  of  it. 

In  the  affidavits  already  referred  to,  as  given  before 
Frederick  King,  justice  of  the  peace,  Wayne  county, 
N.  Y.,  the  following  facts  are  developed : 

William  Chase  swears  that  in  1822,  while  Joe  Smith 
and  his  brother  were  aiding  him  in  digging  a  well,  he 
found  a  curious  stone,  about  twenty  feet  from  the  sur- 
face, and  brought  it  to  the  top  of  the  well.  "Joseph 
put  it  into  his  hat,  alleging  that  by  putting  his  face  to 
the  top  of  it,  he  could  see  in  it." 

The  next  day  he  came  and  desired  to  obtain  the 
stone.  Chase,  with  some  reluctance,  consented  to  lend 
it  to  him.  But  after  Smith  began  to  publish  what  won- 
ders he  could  see  in  it,  Chase  ordered  it  returned. 

In  1825,  as  near  as  witness  can  recollect,  Smith's 
brother  came  and  desired  to  borrow  the  stone  again, 
alleging  that  they  wanted  to  accomplish  some  business 
of  importance  which  could  not  be  done  without  it, 
pledging  also  his  word  and  honor,  that  he  would  return 
it.  Chase  again  consented  to  let  him  have  it.  In  the 
fall  of  1826,  a  friend  called  upon  Chase  and  desired  to 
see  the  stone,  and,  on  his  going  to  Smith's  for  it,  Smith 


smith's  four  years'  vacation.  205 

told  him  he  could  not  have  it.  Chase  insisted  that  it 
was  his  property.  Smith  replied,  "  I  do  not  care  who 
in  the  devil  it  belongs  to  ;  you  shall  not  have  it ;"  and 
Chase  could  never  again  obtain  it. 

In  1830,  Chase  again  asked  Hiram  Smith  for  his 
stone.  He  told  him  "he  should  not  have  it,  for  Joseph 
made  use  of  it  in  translating  his  bible."  Chase  claimed 
it  on  the  ground  of  his  own  right,  and  of  Smith's  pro- 
mise. Smith  gave  him  the  lie.  Harris,  who  was 
present,  "  flew  in  a  rage,  and  took  Chase  by  the  collar," 
and  Hiram  Smith  joined  in  the  scuffle,  "  shaking  his  fists," 
and  "  abusing  the  witness  in  a  most  scandalous  manner." 

Such,  then,  was  the  origin  of  these  stones,  and  of 
Smith's  wonderful  gift  of  clairvoyance,  translating,  and 
foreseeing  the  future,  &c.  &c. 

In  September,  1823,  Smith  says  the  angel  first  ap- 
peared to  him,  and  soon  after  he  went  to  work  for  a 
man  by  the  name  of  Stowell,  in  Chenango  county, 
N.  Y.,  who  employed  him  to  dig  for  money  near  Har- 
mony, Penn.  In  November,  1825,  Mr.  Hale,  his  father- 
in-law,  states  that  he  first  appeared  at  his  house. 
Of  course  he  had  already  been  in  and  about  that  region 
two  years,  or  thereabouts.  In  the  fall  of  1826,  we  find 
him  again  at  home,  without  funds,  and  devising  stories 
about  silver  mines  in  order  to  get  a  passage  to  Har- 
mony ;  he  succeeds,  arrives,  and  marries,  as  we  have 
seen,  and  then  persuades  his  old  employer,  Stowell,  to 
take  a  tramp  to  N.  York,  and  carry  Smith  and  his  new 
bride  in  quest  of  bars  of  gold,  where  they  safely  arrive, 
and  leave  the  old  Dutchman  to  return  and  hunt  his 
gold  at  his  leisure;  and,  finally,  in  the  fall  of  1827,  he 
goes  again  to  Harmony  ;  Harris  makes  his  appearance 
there,  and  the  work  of  translating  the  new  bible  goes 


206  TESTIMONY    OP    JOHN    SPAULDING. 

on.  This  is  the  first  time  his  father-in-law  ever  heard 
of  the  golden  plates  ;  and  it  seems  to  be  Smith's  first 
effort  at  translating  them. 

The  point  to  be  noticed  here  is,  that,  from  1823  to 
1827.  the  precise  four  years  in  which  Smith  and  his 
friends,  in  all  the  Mormon  journals,  either  by  accident 
or  design,  omit  all  accounts  of  him,  he  is  passing  to 
and  fro  from  his  native  place  to  Chenango  county, 
N.  Y.,  and  then  to  Harmony,  Penn.,  which  is  near  by; 
he  is  seemingly  out  of  employ,  and  resources,  and 
friends ;  and,  by  his  own  confession,  employed  a  part 
of  his  time  in  digging  for  a  cave  of  silver,  by  Stowell. 
He  was,  therefore,  in  the  society  of  men  not  only  ready 
to  believe,  but  on  the  look-out  for  wonders  and  sudden 
speculations. 

Why  have  neither  Smith  nor  his  friends  given  any 
history  of  these  four  years,  between  the  two  miraculous 
visits  of  the  angel,  viz,  from  Sept.  22,  1823,  to  Sept. 
22,  1827,  when  he  first  obtained  the  plates?  Why 
does  Smith  pass  over  this  most  interesting  portion  of 
his  life  in  silence,  or  speak  of  it  only  in  vague  general- 
ities ?  The  only  possible  answer  is,  he  dares  not  give 
a  minute  and  detailed  history  of  that  period,  giving 
places  and  dates;  for  if  he  should,  he  fears  it  would  lead 
to  his  detection.  No  other  reason  can  be  given,  though 
he  may  patch  up  something  after  these  suggestions. 

We  will  now  advert  to  the  history  of  the  famous 
Spaulding  manuscript,  of  which  so  much  has  been  said, 
and  which  many  suppose  forms  the  plot  of  this  con- 
temptible religious  comedy,  expanded,  revised,  and  mu- 
tilated no  doubt  as  the  genius  of  Smith  directed. 

Mr.  John  Spaulding,  brother  of  Solomon,  of  Craw- 
ford county,  Penn.,  testifies  as  follows : 


TESTIMONY    OP    JOHN    SPAULDING.  207 

"  Solomon  Spaulding  was  born  in  Ashford,  Conn.,  in 
1761.  He  graduated  at  Dartmouth  College,  and  was 
afterwards  regularly  ordained  as  a  minister.  After 
preaching  three  or  four  years  he  gave  it  up,  and  com- 
menced mercantile  business  with  his  brother  Josiah,  in 
Cherry  Valley,  N.  Y.,  where  he  failed  in  business,  and, 
in  1809,  removed  to  Conneaut,  Ohio.  I  made  him  a 
visit  about  four  years  after,  and  found  him  involved  in 
debt.  He  then  told  me  he  had  been  writing  a  book 
which  he  intended  to  have  printed,  the  avails  of  which 
he  thought  would  enable  him  to  pay  all  his  debts. 
The  book  was  entitled  the  'Manuscript  Found,'  of 
which  he  read  to  me  many  passages.  It  was  an  his- 
torical romance  of  the  first  settlers  of  America,  en- 
deavoring to  show  that  the  American  Indians  are  the 
descendants  of  the  Jews,  or  the  lost  tribes.  It  gave  a 
detailed  account  of  their  journey  from  Jerusalem,  by 
land  and  sea,  till  they  arrived  in  America,  under  the 
command  of  Nephi  and  Lehi.  They  afterwards  had 
quarrels  and  contentions,  and  separated  into  two  distinct 
nations,  one  of  which  he  denominated  Nephites,  and  the 
other  Lamanites.  Cruel  and  bloody  wars  ensued,  in  which 
great  multitudes  were  slain.  They  buried  their  dead  in 
large  heaps,  which  caused  the  mounds  so  common  in 
this  country.  Their  arts,  sciences,  and  civilization 
were  brought  into  view,  in  order  to  account  for  all  the 
curious  antiquities  found  in  various  parts  of  North  and 
South  America.  I  have  recently  read  the  Book  of 
Mormon,  and  to  my  great  surprise  I  find  nearly  the 
same  historical  m"atter,  names,  &c,  as  they  were  in 
my  brother's  writing.  I  well  remember  that  he  wrote 
in  the  old  style,  and  commenced  about  every  sentence 
with, « And  it  came  to  pass,'  or,  'Now  it  came  to  pass,' 


208  TESTIMONY    OF    MARTHA   SPAULDING. 

the  same  as  in  the  Book  of  Mormon ;  and,  according  to 
the  best  of  my  recollection  and  belief,  it  is  the  same  as 
my  brother  Solomon  wrote,  with  the  exception  of  the 
religious  matter.  By  what  means  it  has  fallen  into  the 
hands  of  Joseph  Smith,  jun.,  I  am  unable  to  determine. 
Signed,  John  Spaulding." 

Martha  Spaulding,  the  wife  of  John  Spaulding,  also 
testifies  as  follows: 

"I  was  personally  acquainted  with  Solomon  Spauld- 
ing about  twenty  years  ago.  I  was  at  his  house  a 
short  time  before  he  left  Conneaut.  He  was  then 
writing  an  historical  novel,  founded  on  the  first  settlers 
of  America.  He  represented  them  as  an  enlightened 
and  warlike  people.  He  had  for  many  years  contended 
that  the  aborigines  of  America  were  the  descendants 
of  some  of  the  lost  tribes  of  Israel;  and  this  idea  he 
carried  out  in  the  book  in  question.  The  names  of 
Nephi  and  Lehi  are  yet  fresh  in  my  memory,  as  being 
the  principal  heroes  of  his  tale  ....  I  have  read  the 
Book  of  Mormon,  which  has  brought  fresh  to  my  recol- 
lection the  writings  of  Solomon  Spaulding  ;  and  I  have 
no  manner  Of  doubt  that  the  historical  part  of  it  is  the 
same  that  I  read,  and  heard  read,  more  than  twenty 
years  ago.  The  old  obsolete  style  and  phrases,  *  And 
it  came  to  pass,'  are  the  same. 

Signed,  Martha  Spaulding." 

Mr.  Henry  Lake,  former  partner  of  Solomon  Spauld- 
ing, testifies  as  follows  : 

Conneaut,  Ashtabula  co.,  Ohio,  Sept.  1833. 
"I  left  the  state  of  N.  York  late  in  the  year  1810, 
and  arrived  in  this  place  about  the  first  of  January  fol- 


TESTIMONY    OF    HENRY   LAKE.  209 

lowing.  Soon  after  my  arrival,  I  formed  a  copartner- 
ship with  Solomon  Spaulding,  for  the  purpose  of  re- 
building a  forge  which  he  had  commenced  a  year 
or  two  before.  He  frequently  read  to  me  from  a 
manuscript  which  he  was  writing,  and  which  he  enti- 
tled the  '  Manuscript  Found,'  which  he  represented  as 
being  found  in  this  town.  I  spent  many  hours  in  hear- 
ing him  read  said  writings,  and  became  well  acquainted 
with  its  contents.  He  wished  me  to  assist  him  in  get- 
ting it  printed,  alleging  that  a  book  of  that  kind  would 
meet  with  a  rapid  sale.  This  book  represented  the 
American  Indians  as  the  lost  tribes,  gave  an  account 
of  their  leaving  Jerusalem,  their  contentions  and  wars, 
which  were  many  and  great.  'One  time  when  he  was 
reading  to  me  the  tragic  account  of  Laban,  I  pointed 
out  to  him  what  I  considered  an  inconsistency,  which 
he  promised  to  correct ;  but,  by  referring  to  the  book 
of  Mormon,  I  find,  to  my  surprise,  that  it  stands  there, 
just  as  he  read  it  to  me  then.  Some  months  ago  I  bor- 
rowed a  golden  bible,  put  it  into  my  pocket,  carried  it 
home,  and  thought  no  more  of  it.  About  a  week  after, 
my  wife  found  the  book  in  my  coat  pocket,  as  it  hung 
up,  and  commenced  reading  it  aloud  as  I  lay  on  the 
bed.  She  had  not  read  twenty  minutes  before  I  was 
astonished  to  find  the  same  passages  in  it  that  Spauld- 
ing had  read  to  me  more  than  twenty  years  before, 
from  his  '  Manuscript  Found.' 

"  Since  that,  I  have  more  fully  examined  the  said 
golden  bible,  and  have  no  hesitation  in  saying  that  the 
historical  part  of  it  is  principally,  if  not  wholly,  taken 
from  the  '  Manuscript  Found.'  I  well  recollect  telling 
Mr.  Spaulding  that  the  so  frequent  use  of  the  ^words, 
*  And  it  came  to  pass,'  '  Now  it  came  to  pass,'  rendered 


210  spaulding's  manuscript. 

it  ridiculous.  Spaulding  left  here  in  1812,  and  I  fur- 
nished him  with  the  means  to  carry  him  to  Pittsburg, 
where  he  said  he  would  get  the  book  printed,  and  pay 
me.  But  I  never  heard  any  more  from  him  or  his  wri- 
tings till  I  saw  them  in  the  Book  of  Mormon. 

Signed,  Henry  Lake.'' 

These  testimonies  are  confirmed  by  Messrs.  Aaron 
Wright,  Oliver  Smith,  Nahum  Howard,  of  Ohio,  Arte- 
mas  Cunningham,  of  Geauga  county,  John  N.  Millar, 
of  Pennsylvania,  former  acquaintance  of  Mr.  Spauld- 
ing ;  and  by  other  gentlemen,  whose  testimony  it  is  not 
important  to  quote  at  length,  as  well  as  by  the  widow 
and  daughter  of  Mr.  Spaulding.  The  widow  is  now. 
quite  aged,  and  her  daughter  was  but  a  mere  child 
during  her  father's  life,  which  has  tended  to  render  their 
testimony  somewhat  indefinite,  and  the  Mormons  say, 
discordant,  as  perhaps  it  is  natural  that  it  should  be,  in 
some  of  the  details,  considering  the  extreme  age  of  the 
one  and  youth  of  the  other.  This  the  Mormons  have 
not  failed  to  trumpet  abroad,  while  they  have  never 
made  a  single  successful  effort  to  refute  the  testimony 
of  the  witnesses  here  adduced,  and  numerous  others  of 
equal  credibility ;  indeed  they  seem  reluctant  to  notice 
them  at  all.  But  from  these  sources,  the  following 
facts  can  be  fully  substantiated,  viz  : 

Mr.  Spaulding  wrote  a  manuscript,  while  living  in 
Ohio,  in  the  years  1810,  '11,  and  '12,  which  he  called 
the  "  Manuscript  Found."  It  was  an  historical  ro- 
mance of  the  first  settlers  of  America,  endeavoring  to 
show  that  the  American  Indians  are  the  lost  tribes,  the 
descendants  of  the  Jews,  giving  an  account  of  their 
journey  from  Jerusalem,  by  land  and  by  sea,  until  they 


211 

arrived  in  America,  under  the  command  of  Nephi  and 
Lehi ;  in  short,  the  leading  features  of  the  work  were 
so  similar  to  the  historical  parts  of  Smith's  book,  that 
numbers  recognised  it,  as  soon  as  they  heard  it,  as  be- 
ing the  same  story. 

In  1812,  Spaulding  left  Ohio  and  went  to  Pittsburg, 
where  he  resided  about  two  years;  during  which  time 
it  has  been  supposed  that  he  left  his  manuscript  at  the 
printing  office  of  Patterson  &  Lambdier,  and  that  Sid- 
ney Rigdon  found  it  there  when  he  went  to  Pittsburg 
to  live,  in  1822.  Of  this,  however,  there  is  no  proof; 
and  I  c*annot  imagine  that  a  man  of  Rigdon's  talent, 
power  of  language,  and  knowledge  of  the  Bible,  ever 
could  have  jumbled  together  such  a  bundle  of  absurdi- 
ties as  the  Book  of  Mormon  is.  No.  Whoever  got 
the  Spaulding  manuscript,  Joe  Smith,  and  Joe  alone,  is 
sole  "  author  and  proprietor"  of  its  offspring,  the  Book 
of  Mormon.  There  is  not,  probably,  another  man  on 
the  globe  that  could  write  such  a  book,  except  Joe 
Smith ;  and  he  would  not  have  done  it,  had  not  some 
materials  been  furnished  to  his  hand  to  suggest  the  out- 
line of  his  story. 

Whether  Rigdon  helped  him  to  the  manuscript,  or 
aided  him  in  the  work,  we  cannot  tell.  It  is  certain 
that,  from  1822,  he  was  out  of  business,  and  professed 
to  be  in  Pittsburg  studying  the  Scriptures  for  three 
years,  while  Smith  was  away  from  home,  no  one  knows 
precisely  where,  except  that  a  part  of  the  time  he  was 
in  Harmony,  East  Pennsylvania. 

During  the  three  years  in  which  Smith  was  transla- 
ting his  bible,  it  is  also  certain  that  Rigdon  was  as  ac- 
tively engaged  as  he  could  be  in  building  up  a  church 


212  mrs.  spaulding's  removals. 

for  him  in  Ohio ;  whether  by  intrigue  or  accident,  we 
will  not  pretend  to  say. 

But,  to  resume  our  narrative  of  facts:  Mr.  Spaulding 
left  Pittsburg  in  1814,  and  removed  to  Amity,  Wash- 
ington co.,  Penn.,  where  he  lived  two  years,  and  died 
in  1816.  Whether  Mr.  Spaulding  took  his  manuscript 
with  him,  or  whether  he  left  it  behind  at  Lambdier's 
office,  in  Pittsburg,  his  widow,  now  Mrs.  Davidson,  of 
Monson,  Mass.,  is  not  positively  certain  ;  and  the  Mor- 
mons have  asserted  that  she  has  told  different  stories 
about  the  matter,  which,  considering  her  age  and  in- 
firmity of  memory,  is  not  improbable.  After  the  death 
of  Mr.  Spaulding,  she,  however,  removed  to  Onondaga 
co.,  N.  Y.,  in  1817  or  '18,  where  she  resided  about  one 
year.     This  place  is  in  the  vicinity  of  the  Smiths. 

At  this  time  she  had  in  her  possession  a  small  trunk, 
containing  the  writings  of  her  deceased  husband,  Rev. 
Mr.  Spaulding ;  but  of  the  number  and  character  of 
these  writings  she  cannot  positively  affirm.  From  this 
place  she  went  to  Hartwick,  Otsego  co.,  and  other  pla- 
ces in  that  vicinity,  on  a  visiting  tour.  She  married 
again  in  Hartwick,  in  1820,  where  she  resided  until 
1832.  She  then  again  removed  to  Massachusetts.  Du- 
ring a  part  of  the  time,  from  1817  to  1820,  she  left  the 
said  trunk  at  her  brother's  house,  Mr.  Harvy  Sabine,  at 
Onondaga  Hollow,  not  very  far  from  the  Smiths,  as 
may  be  seen  on  the  map.  After  her  marriage,  in  1820, 
the  trunk  was  taken  to  Hartwick,  where  she  left  it,  in 
1832,  with  Mr.  Jerome  Clark. 

Hartwick  is  not  far  from  the  residence  of  the  famous 
Stowell,  in  whose  employ  Smith  dug  for  money,  as  he 
says,  in  1823.  To  this  place  also  he  was  passing  and 
repassing,  for  four  years  afterwards,  as  we  have  seen, 


ROMAN    MANUSCRIPT.  213 

without  ostensible  object  or  business,  except,  as  appears 
from  the  testimony  of  the  people  of  Bainbridge,  he  was 
once  or  twice  arrested  as  a  common  vagabond,  and 
finally  ran  away,  to  escape  the  sentence  of  the  law. 
The  trunk  and  manuscripts  were,  then,  in  this  vicinity 
from  1820  to  1832,  and  of  course  during  the  four  years 
of  Smith's  life,  on  which  he  is  so  silent,  as  it  regards 
himself.  He  was,  in  reality,  loitering  about  these  re- 
gions, as  we  learn  from  other  sources. 

Mrs.  Davidson  is  not  certain  that  the  "  Manuscript 
Found"  was  in  said  trunk  ;  nevertheless,  it  was  thought 
best  to  'examine  it ;  and  when  examined,  instead  of  a 
variety  of  manuscripts,  but  one  single  one  was  found, 
which  purported  to  be  a  short  unfinished  Romance,  de- 
riving the  origin  of  the  Indians  from  Rome,  by  a  ship 
driven  to  the  American  coast,  while  on  a  voyage  to 
Britain,  before  the  Christian  era. 

This  manuscript  was  taken  and  shown  to  several  of 
the  above-named  witnesses,  who  say  that  Mr.  Spauld- 
ing,  at  first,  began  his  romance  in  this  way,  and  wrote, 
as  it  seems,  a  quire  or  so  of  paper  to  that  effect ;  but 
finally  concluded  to  give  up  that  plan,  go  further  back, 
and  derive  their  origin  from  the  Jews,  as  in  the  Book 
of  Mormon.  The  failure  of  finding  this  latter  manu- 
script, I  think,  has  been  misinterpreted  by  both  the 
friends  and  enemies  of  Smith. 

If  Mrs.  Davidson  had  a  trunk  full  of  manuscripts  in 
Otsego  county,  who  took  them  all  away  but  one  ?  Why 
was  Smith  prowling  about  there  for  four  years  ?  Du- 
ring that  time,  both  he  and  his  family  were  telling 
strange  stories  about  a  book,  or  manuscript,  that  was 
to  be  found,  as  we  shall  see  in  the  sequel.  Why  did  he 
go  to  Harmony,  Penn.,  to  translate  his  book  ?     If  he 


214  LOST    MANUSCRIPT. 

really  succeeded  in  getting  the  manuscript  from  Mrs. 
Spaulding's  trunk,  or  if  some  one  did  it  for  him,  this 
accounts  for  its  disappearance,  and  for  all  other  known 
facts  in  the  case.  That  all  the  writings  are  missing, 
and  cannot  be  found,  with  the  exception  of  this  one 
small  romance  of  the  later  origin,  is  a  known  fact. 
That  Mr.  Spaulding  wrote  another  and  larger  edition 
of  the  work,  similar  in  all  its  leading  features  to  the 
"  more  history  parts"  of  the  inspired  translation  of  the 
Book  of  Mormon,  is  also  certain.  That  it  might  have 
been  taken  from  Pittsburg  is  possible ;  but  that  it  was 
taken  from  the  trunk  in  Otsego  county,  and  finally  fell 
into  the  hands  of  Smith,  while  in  connection  with 
Stowell,  is  far  more  probable.  That  it  is  gone,  and 
that  Smith  had  both  seen  and  read  it  before  his  pro- 
phetic mission,  is  as  certain  as  it  is  that  the  Book  of 
Mormon  exists. 

If  we  do  not  admit  this,  we  must  believe  that  all 
these  witnesses  to  its  contents  testify  falsely,  without 
any  possible  motive  for  so  doing,  while  they  corrobo- 
rate and  sustain  each  other  in  their  evidence,  without 
any  possibility  of  collusion,  and  explain  all  known  facts, 
even  before  the  facts  to  be  explained  had  been  made 
public.  However,  be  that  as  it  may,  Smith  is  undoubt- 
edly the  "  author  and  proprietor"  of  the  book,  as  it 
now  stands.  There  are  also  facts  to  show  that  at  first 
he  had  no  idea  of  what  would  come  out  of  the  thing, 
and  was,  for  a  long  time,  beating  round  the  bush,  and 
trying  to  raise  the  wind  in  some  way,  he  knew  not 
precisely  how.  It  will  be  recollected,  that  the  story 
given  at  the  outset  of  this  work  is  the  stereotyped  edi- 
tion, which  Smith  himself  gave,  after  the  appearance 
of  the  book. 


SMITH'S  INDECISION TRIAL  WITH  HIS  FATHER.      215 

Our  space  forbids  us  to  quote  from  the  affidavits  of  the 
witnesses  the  numberless  and  contradictory  stories  he 
told  about  the  book,  previous  to  that  time.  When  he 
first  heard  of,  or  saw,  this  manuscript,  is  uncertain.  His 
plans,  however,  assumed  something  of  a  definite  shape 
in  1827. 

Peter  Ingersol  testifies  that  old  Smith  told  him,  some 
time  before  this,  that  a  book  had  been  found  in  a  hollow 
tree,  in  Canada,  giving  an  account  of  the  first  settle- 
ment of  this  country,  before  it  was  discovered  by  Co- 
lumbus. Joe  had  probably  made  some  trial  of  his  fa- 
ther's credulity  previous  to  this  time.  In  January,  1827, 
the  old  man  told  Willard  Chase  a  somewhat  improved 
book-story,  the  substance  of  which  was,  that  a  spirit 
had  appeared  to  his  son  Joseph,  informing  him  of  a  re- 
cord on  golden  plates,  which  he  could  obtain  by  repair- 
ing to  a  given  place,  dressed  in  black,  and  riding  on  a 
black  horse  with  a  switch  tail.  They  fitted  him  out  as 
directed.  He  proceeded  to  the  place ;  found  the  box 
containing  the  plates ;  saw,  upon  opening  it,  the  book, 
and  attempted  to  get  it,  but  was  hindered.  A  toad,  in 
the  box,  assumes  the  form  of  a  man,  and  hits  Smith  a 
lick  on  the  head,  which  knocks  him  three  or  four  rods, 
and,  finally,  he  was  told  by  the  spirit  who  wrote  the 
book  to  come  again,  one  year  from  that  time,  with  his 
oldest  brother,  and  he  should  receive  the  plates.  Be- 
fore the  time  arrived,  however,  the  oldest  brother  died, 
which  the  old  man  said  was  an  "  accidental  provi- 
dence." 

These  and  similar  stories  were  evidently  thrown  out 
as  bait,  to  try  the  credulity  of  Smith's  father  and  his 
money-digging  comrades.  Joe  had  probably  either  got 
his  book,  or  become  sure  that  he  could  obtain  it,  and 


216  EXPERIMENT  WITH  THE  SAND. 

was  only  casting  about  to  see  what  use  he  could  make 
of  it,  or  whether  he  could  raise  the  wind  in  this  way. 
One  or  two  slight  circumstances  seem  to  have  decided 
him  upon  the  course  which  he  ultimately  pursued.  But 
we  will  let  him  tell  his  own  story,  as  he  himself  related 
it  to  Mr.  Peter  Ingersol.* 

Early  in  the  fall  of  this  same  year,  1 827,  say  s  Smith,  "as 
I  was  passing  across  some  woods,  I  found,  in  a  hollow, 
some  beautiful  white  sand,  that  had  been  washed  up  by 
the  water.  I  took  off  my  frock,  tied  up  several  quarts 
of  it,  and  then  went  home.  On  entering  the  house,  I 
found  the  family  at  dinner,  and  they  were  all  anxious 
to  know  the  contents  of  my  frock.  At  that  moment  I 
happened  to  think  of  what  I  had  heard  of  the  '  golden 
bible :'  so  I  very  gravely  told  them  it  was  the  golden 
bible  ;  and,  to  my  surprise,  they  were  credulous  enough 
to  believe  it."  He  added  that  no  man  could  see  it,  with 
the  naked  eye,  and  live  ;  still,  he  offered  to  take  it  out 
and  show  it  to  them ;  but  they  refused  to  see  it,  and  left  the 
room,  it  seems,  in  some  fright.  "  Now,"  says  Joe, "  I  have 
got  the  d d  fools  fixed,  and  I  will  carry  out  the  fun." 

Here  he  first  formed  the  idea  that  a  golden  bible 
would  take  well,  and  he  accordingly  fixed  his  plan. 

After  this,  in  order  to  keep  up  the  humbug,  he  ap- 
plied to  Willard  Chase  to  make  a  box  for  his  bible. 
But,  as  Chase  would  not  do  it,  he  made  a  box  of  clap- 
boards himself,  put  the  sand  into  a  pillow-case,  and  then 
into  the  box,  which  he  permitted  all  to  see  and  handle, 
but  not  to  examine.  Shortly  after  this,  it  seems,  he  de- 
termined to  go  to  Pennsylvania  again.  As  he  himself 
told  Ingersol,  he  went  to  Palmyra,  and  being  in  want 

*  See  oath  of  P.  Ingersol. 


SMITH  FIXES  HIS  PLAN.  21*7 

of  money  for  the  journey,  says  he,  "  I  there  met  that 

d d  fool,  Martin  Harris,  and  told  him  that  I  had  a 

command  from  God  to  ask  fifty  dollars  in  money  of  the 
first  man  I  met  in  the  street,  to  assist  in  the  work  of  the 
Lord,  in  translating  the  golden  bible."  "  I  saw,"  said 
he,  "  that  the  thing  took  his  notion,  for  he  promptly 
gave  me  the  money." 

However,  Harris's  statement  of  this  same  transac- 
tion shows  that  he  did  not  get  the  money  without  hav- 
ing recourse  to  the  basest  intrigue  and  duplicity.  But 
he  got  it,  as  all  admit. 

He  talked  to  Harris  about  the  golden  plates  of  im- 
mense value,  and  of  the  immense  wealth  that  would 
accrue  from  the  publication  of  such  a  new  and  won- 
derful work,  and  finally  offered  him  a  share  in  this  sud- 
den influx  of  wealth,  if  he  would  advance  a  few  dollars, 
in  order  to  bring  forth  the  work.  At  length,  by  skil- 
fully working  at  once  upon  the  credulity,  superstition, 
and  avarice  of  Harris,  he  got  him  fairly  enlisted.  These 
two  incidents  seem  to  have  decided  the  mind  of  the 
prophet.  The  story  of  the  sand  enabled  him  to  guage 
the  credulity  of  his  father's  family,  and  the  others  who 
constituted  the  first  church  of  six,  while  the  grant  of  the 
fifty  dollars  was  a  sure  pledge  at  once  of  the  credulity 
and  fanaticism  of  Harris.  He  saw  that,  by  giving  the 
matter  a  religious  turn,  he  could  probably  keep  the 
Smiths  and  Whitmers  under  his  thumb,  pick  Harris's 
pocket  of  his  ten  thousand  dollars,  more  or  less,  and 
perhaps  even  turn  it  to  account  after  that,  by  the  sale 
of  books,  or  otherwise.  At  this  time  it  was  solely  and 
avowedly  a  money-making  matter,  with  all  who  were 
engaged  in  it,  save  the  dupes  in  the  play,  and  even  some 
of  them  entertained  hopes  of  pecuniary  gain,  as  all  the 
10 


218  GOES  TO  PENNSYLVANIA* 

affidavits  show.  With  these  prospects  ahead,  Smith 
starts  off  to  Pennsylvania  again,  although  it  was  but  a 
few  months  since  he  moved  his  family  from  that  state, 
and  Harris  soon  followed,  Whether  Smith  went  down 
there  to  get  the  manuscript,  or  only  to  translate  it  more 
at  his  leisure,  or  both  of  these,  it  is  not  certain ;  but 
he  goes  and  translates, or  pretends  to  translate, and  Har- 
ris writes  for  a  time,  until  the  devil  begins  to  bother 
them,  and  then  Cowdery  appears  on  the  stage,  and  acts 
as  scribe.  His  first  pretended  verbal  revelation,  that 
has  been  made  public,  was  given  in  Harmony,  July, 
1828,*  after  Martin  had  lost  the  manuscript  of  one  hun- 
dred and  sixteen  pages.  From  that  time  on,  revela- 
tions seem  to  have  beenYrequently  necessary,  both  to 
keep  up  the  courage  of  the  scribes,  Harris  and  Cowderyy 
and  also  to  prepare  the  minds  of  the  dupes  who  were 
to  constitute  the  first  Mormon  church  in  New  York, 

In  these  revelations,  Smith  committed  himself  upon 
many  points,  which  he  has  been  obliged  to  alter  in  the 
subsequent  editions,  showing  clearly  that  he  had  no 
idea  whereunto  the  thing  would  grow.  But  after  his 
fortunate  union  with  Rigdon,  as  has  been  related,  his 
scheme  at  once  expanded,  and  assumed  a  form  and 
reach  which  rendered  it  indespensable  to  alter,  muti- 
late, and  add  to,  the  first  revelations  frequently,  as  oc- 
casion required. 

It  is  evident  that,  as  early  as  1822,  Smith  began  to 
dabble  with  his  stone  spectacles.  Some  time  previous 
to  June,  1827,  he  had  probably  got  some  idea  of  the 
Spaulding  manuscript,  and  was  practising  his  wits  upon 
the  old  man  and  others,  to  see  what  he  could  do  with 

*  See  Book  of  Cov.,  156. 


219 

it.  In  August,  Smith  and  his  wife  went  to  Pennsylva- 
niar  with  Peter  Ingersol,  to  bring  their  goods  up  to 
Manchester,  to  which  place  they  soon  returned.  Soon 
after  his  arrival  there,  he  found  the  curious  sand,  suc- 
ceeded in  duping  his  father's  family,  (who,  with  one 
Joseph  Knight,  constituted  his  future  church,)  got  his 
fifty  dollars  (which  fixed  him  in  his  plan  of  calling  it 
the  "  Golden  Bible,")  from  Harris,  applied  for  his  box, 
and  finally  made  a  rough  one  himself,  returned  to  Penn- 
sylvania to  secure  the  manuscript,  and  addressed  him- 
self to  the  task  of  translating  it. 

He  might  have  had  the  manuscript  before,  however, 
though  he  told  several  persons  that  he  had  none,  and 
was  only  hoaxing  the  "  d — d  fools ;"  still,  he  told  as 
many  more  that  he  had  got  it ;  and  if  he  had  not,  we 
may  reasonably  conclude  he  knew  where  he  could  get 
it,  on  his  return  to  Pennsylvania, 

I  will  here  adopt  the  Mormon  mode  of  arguing  on 
the  prophecies,  and  inquire,  If  this  is  not  a  true  account 
of  the  whole  matter,  what  is  ?  Let  Smith  or  his 
friends  give  us  the  full  and  accurate  history  of  his  life, 
during  these  four  years,  with  names  of  places,  persons, 
and  dates,  where,  with  whom,  and  in  what  manner 
Smith  was  employed  during  that  whole  period,  and 
then,  if  the  public  are  not  satisfied,  it  will  at  least  re- 
move the  suspicion  which  must  necessarily  attach  to 
such  obvious  and  ominous  silence.  Let  him  show  that 
the  story  which  he  now  tells  was  not  one  made  up, 
piecemeal,  after  the  publication  of  the  book,  and  that, 
too,  in  utter  contrariety  to  scores  of  stories  before  told 
by  Smith  himself.  It  might  not  be  amiss,  also,  for 
Rigdon  to  give  a  more  accurate  account  of  his  where- 
abouts, from  1823  to  1830,  that  the  public  might  the 


220  WONDERFUL    PROVIDENCES. 

better  understand  the  philosophy  of  his  new  theology 
in  Ohio,  while  Smith  was  receiving  new  revelations- in 
New- York.  It  is  certainly  curious,  that  after  a  three 
years'  tug  in  Ohio,  at  reformation  in  the  church,  Pratt 
stumbles  at  once  upon  Smith's  book  in  New- York.  The 
"  four  elders"  sent  on  a  mission  to  the  Indians  stumble, 
in  like  manner,  upon  Rigdon  in  Ohio,  and  there  they 
all  stumble  together  upon  a  whole  society — some  1000 
persons — all  prepared  for  the  new  gospel ;  and  so  the 
whole  posse,  Rigdon  and  all,  at  once  set  to  crying,  and 
snivelling,  and  baptizing  into  this  new,  and  wonderful, 
and  unheard-of  faith  of  Joe  Smith ! 

These  things  look  curious,  certainly  ;  and  if  they 
were  merely  a  series  of  accidents,  as  perhaps  they  may 
have  been,  surely  they  were  a  succession  of  "  accidental 
providences,"  almost  as  singular  as  the  untimely  death 
of  the  oldest  brother  of  Joe,  whom  the  Lord  first  ap- 
pointed to  aid  Joe  in  the  procuring  the  plates,  but  whom 
he  took,  by  accident,  as  the  old  man  said,  before  the 
time  arrived.  Perhaps,  however,  the  devil  stole  him, 
as  he  did  the  116  pages  of  manuscript.  And  it  may 
be  that  all  these  particular  providences,  which  resulted 
in  the  union  of  Rigdon  and  Pratt,  and  the  consequent 
elevation  of  Joe,  with  his  faith  and  book,  from  merited 
contempt,  were,  in  fact,  the  devil's  providences ;  for 
since,  according  to  Smith's  own  showing,  he  was  the 
means  of  securing  to  the  Mormons  a  better  revelation 
than  they  otherwise  would  have  had,  he  may  have  had 
a  hand  in  fostering  the  infant  church  which  was  its  off- 
spring. 

The  world  would  like  to  understand  all  this  a  little 
better  than  either  Rigdon  or  Pratt  have  enabled  them, 
as  yet,  to  comprehend  it.     It  may  be  hard  to  impeach 


SMITH  THE  REAL  AUTHOR  OF  BOOK  OF  MORMON.  221 

men's  motives,  but  it  is  still  harder  for  any  man  to  be- 
lieve that  men,  who  can  write  and  speak  with  as  much 
readiness  as  Rigdon  and  Pratt,  ever  did,  or  ever  could, 
honestly  believe  one  word  of  Smith's  stories,  or  of  the 
budget  of  lying,  nonsensical  gibberish,  which  he  has 
the  impudence  to  call  a  revelation  from  God. 

The  origin  of  the  book  is,  however,  after  all,  a  mat- 
ter of  mere  curiosity,  of  little  practical  moment.  We 
have  the  book.  It  speaks  for  itself;  and  whether  it 
was  concocted  in  a  sunbeam,  or  in  the  mud,  it  is  nei- 
ther worthy  of  man  nor  Deity.  It  is  worthy  of  only 
Joe  Smith  ;  and  if  he  originated  the  whole  of  it,  without 
any  foreign  aid,  we  could  only  say,  "  Like  parent,  like 
child,"  and  let  it  go  at  that. 

If  he  is  the  author  and  proprietor,  as  he  says  he  is, 
be  it  so ;  no  one  objects ;  and  were  it  not  for  proof 
positive,  as  it  regards  its  similarity  to  the  Spaulding 
manuscript,  there  would  be  not  the  least  possible  neces- 
sity of  looking  beyond  the  cranium  of  Joe  Smith  for 
the  nest  in  which  it  was  brooded,  hatched,  and  fledged. 
A  greater  genius  could  not  have  written  it  as  it  now 
is — a  lesser  one  could  not  have  written  it  worse.  Some 
have  intimated  that  Smith  was  aided  by  the  devil ;  but 
surely  not  in  the  composition  of  the  work.  We  must 
excuse  his  Satanic  Majesty  from  all  hand  in  it,  save  a 
commendable  effort,  by  stealing  away  the  116  pages  of 
manuscript,  to  save  his  minions  from  probable  disgrace, 
and  his  cause  on  earth  from  utter  contempt  and  ruin. 
I  doubt  not  the  devil  stole  it  simply  from  a  sense  of 
propriety ;  but  after  he  was  so  triumphantly  outwitted 
by  Smith's  guardian  genius,  he  took  a  sudden  tack,  as 
he  is  wont  to  do,  and  tried  to  see  how  many  folks  he 
could  make  believe  it.     He  has,  by  the  aid  of  Rigdon 


222         DISSENTERS    PREDICT    WAR    WITH    MISSOURI, 

and  Pratt,  succeeded  in  this  to  admiration ;  though  he 
seems  to  have  become  somewhat  ashamed  of  this  last 
move,  and  took  again  a  counter  track  in  1838,  in  Mis- 
souri. What  his  next  evolution  may  be,  none  but  the 
prophet  Smith  can  tell.  Even  the  Mormons,  however, 
have  sense  enough  to  see  that  Smith  must,  by  some 
means,  regain  his  Mount  Zion  in  Missouri,  or  that  he 
will  prove  himself  an  impostor  even  to  them.  Dissent- 
ers affirm  that  this  is  now  the  great  enterprise  before 
the  secret  councils  of  Smith. 


THE    TWO    PRIESTHOODS.  223 


CHAPTER  VII. 

ORGANIZATION    AND    DOCTRINES    OF    THE    MORMONS. 

The  two  priesthoods — First  presidency,  &c. — Powers  of  Smith — Num. 
ber  of  Dignitaries— Doctrines  of  faith— Trinity— Mormon  sacrifice  of 
all  things — Miracles — Gifts  of  healing,  prophets,  &c. — Casting  out 
devils— Hierarchy — Witness  of  the  Spirit— Equality  with  God — Pre- 
existenee— Preaching— Creeds— Real  belief  of  Mormons— Suppressed 
and  altered  revelations — Patriarchal  blessings. 

The  "  Latter  Day  Saints"  have  two  distinct  classes 
of  arguments,  which  they  advance  in  their  own  behalf: 
One  class  is  to  prove  the  divine  authority  of  Smith's 
book,  the  other  to  show  the  necessity  and  superiority 
of  the  peculiar  organization,  doctrines,  and  discipline 
of  their  church. 

The  apostolic  and  democratic  simplicity  of  their 
church  government  will  first  claim  our  attention. 

They  have  two  distinct  orders  of  church  dignitaries : 
1.  The  Melchizedec,  or  High  Priesthood,  consisting  of 
high-priests  and  elders:  2.  The  Aaronic,  or  Lesser 
Priesthood,  consisting  of  bishops,  priests,  teachers,  and 
deacons.  The  former  preside  over  the  spiritual  inter- 
ests of  the  church.  The  latter  administer  its  ordinan- 
ces, and  manage  its  temporal  concerns. 

Three  of  the  Melchizedec  or  High  Priests  are  ap- 
pointed presidents,  to  preside  over  all  the  churches  in 
all  the  world.  They  are  called  the  First  Presi- 
dency, 

The  church  in  Jackson  county,  Mo.,  is  called  "Zion," 


224  ORGANIZATION", 

and  is  still  to  become  the  great  centre,  both  of  gathering 
and  of  ruling ;  at  least  so  says  Smith's  divinity.  Gov. 
Boggs  seems  to  be  of  a  different  opinion.  Which  knows 
best,  it  is  hard  to  say. 

Other  churches,  established  by  revelations  given  to 
Smith,  are  called  "Stakes  of  Zion,"  or  simply  "stakes." 
Hence  the  stakes  at  Kirtland,  Nauvoo,  &c. 

Each  of  these  stakes,  also,  is  ruled  by  a  subordinate 
presidency,  of  three  high-priests,  whose  jurisdiction  is 
confined  to  the  limits  of  the  stake. 

The  divine  appointment  of  these  stakes,  in  new  re- 
gions, gives  a  fine  opportunity  of  speculating  in  town 
lots. 

They  have  also  a  High  Council,  consisting  of  twelve 
high-priests,  and  constituting  the  court  of  ultimate  ap- 
peal, at  each  stake.  The  bishop  and  his  two  counsel- 
lors, from  the  lesser  priesthood,  constitute  the  court  of 
immediate  jurisdiction,  for  the  first  trial  of  transgress- 
ors, and  for  administering  things  temporal  at  each 
stake. 

A  travelling  high  council,  consisting  also  of  twelve 
high  priests,  and  called  the  "  Twelve  Apostles,"  are 
sent  forth  with  power  to  preach  the  gospel  to  all 
the  world,  and  to  discipline  and  govern  all  unorganized 
churches.  One  of  these  is  called  "  President  of  the 
Twelve." 

The  first,  second,  and  third  "  Seventies,"  consisted  of 
seventy  elders  each,  whose  duty  it  was  to  preach  the 
Mormon  gospel  abroad,  under  the  direction  of  the 
twelve  apostles. 

In  addition  to  these  dignitaries,  there  is  an  innu- 
merable host  of  bishops,  elders,  priests,  deacons,  &c, 
employed  by  the  church,  either  to  edify  the  "saints"  at 


ORGANIZATION.  225 

home,  or  to  gain  proselytes  abroad.  Each  of  these 
furnishes  himself  with  the  Book  of  Covenants  and 
Pratt's  Voice  of  Warning,  from  which  they  are  soon 
able  to  acquire  at  once  their  proof-texts,  their  logic,  and 
their  faith. 

The  first  presidency,  the  high  council,  and  each  of 
the  seventies,  have  the  right  to  discipline  their  own 
members,  within  their  respective  limits,  and  a  decision 
of  either  body  is  final,  and  reversible  only  at  the  general 
council  of  all  the  bodies  conjointly. 

The  high  priests,  elders,  and  priests,  travel  and 
preach*;  but  teachers  and  deacons  are  the  stationary 
officers  of  the  church. 

All  these  functionaries  are  created,  and,  according  to 
the  doctrine  and  teaching  of  Smith,  can  be  removed  at 
any  time  by  the  voice  of  their  constituents,  the  people. 

All  this  is  so  purely  and  beautifully  democratic,  that 
the  saints  seem  to  forget  that  their  democratic  monarch, 
Smith,  has  reserved  exclusively  to  himself  the  sole  right 
of  receiving  and  promulgating  revelations  from  the 
Lord,  touching  even  the  most  minute  of  all  the  interests 
of  the  church,  to  which,  of  course,  they  are  ever  to 
yield  the  most  implicit  obedience,  on  penalty  of  eternal 
damnation.  Hence — though,  as  Smith  tells  them,  all 
these  functionaries  are  merely  their  servants — Joe  Smith 
himself  is  virtually  the  God  both  of  them  and  their  ser- 
vants, for  his  voice  is  the  voice  of  God,  in  all  things, 
great  and  small,  whenever  he  chooses  to  call  it  so;  and 
that,  too,  in  spite  of  the  command  of  God,  given  March, 
1829,  and  found  in  the  Book  of  Covenants,  158.  By 
turning  to  that  same  revelation,  as  it  stands  on  the 
tenth  page  of  the  first  edition  of  the  Book  of  Com- 
mandments, published  in  1833,  before  the  prophet  saw 
10* 


226  POWERS  OF  SMITH. 

fully  what  powers  it  would  be  convenient  for  him  to 
assume  in  the  church,  the  reader  will  see  that,  at  the 
end  of  the  second  verse,  God  commands  Smith  to  pre- 
tend to  "no  other  gift" except  to  translate,  and  expressly 
declares  that  he  will  "grant  him  no  other  gift."  Doubt- 
less the  prophet  thought  this  sufficient  at  the  time.  But, 
in  publishing  the  second  edition,  two  years  after,  it  was 
ibund  expedient  to  add  a  saving  clause  or  two,  so  as  effec- 
tually to  annihilate  at  once  the  command  and  the  prom- 
ise, and  leave  Smith  still  free  to  usurp  whatever  power 
he  pleased.  The  second  edition  is  made  to  read  thus  : 
"I  have  commanded  that  you  should  pretend  to  no 
other  gift"  (save  to  translate)  "until  my  purpose  is  ful- 
filled in  this"  "  for  I  will  grant  you  no  other  gift  until 
it  is  finished."  The  words  in  italics  are  interpolated  in 
the  second  edition,  but  not  found  in  the  first.  Doubt- 
less this  was  a  mere  correction  of  the  type,  like  the 
taking  away  of  a  whole  page  of  the  preface  from  the 
second  edition  of  the  Book  of  Mormon.  Smith  did  not 
see  the  necessity  of  correcting  the  type  in  '33,  but  in 
'35  it  became  apparent.  The  power  of  a  simple  trans- 
lator was  too  narrow  for  the  exigency  of  the  times.  It 
would  have  been  well  for  the  world  if  Smith's  divinity, 
instead  of  giving  him  a  pair  of  stone  spectacles,  had 
given  him  a  divine  printer,  and  a  divine  press,  and  such 
types  that  he  might  have  been  enabled  to  fix  the  mean- 
ing of  his  inspired  revelations,  so  that  it  would  be  pos- 
sible to  let  them  stand,  at  least  two  years,  without  ab- 
stracting, interpolating,  altering,  or  garbling,  to  suit  the 
times.  But  the  ways  of  Smith's  providence  are  indeed 
mysterious.  We  will  not  pretend  to  judge.  The 
prophet  needed  other  gifts,  and  he  took  them  ;  not  by 


POWERS  OF  SMITH.  227 

piecemeal,  but  by  wholesale;  or  rather,  he  had  already- 
taken  them  before. 

In  a  revelation  given  to  Smith,  April  6,  1830,  the 
very  day  the  first  Mormon  church  of  six  was  organized 
at  Fayette,  New  York,*  Smith  is  appointed  "  Seer, 
Translator,  Prophet,  Apostle  of  Jesus  Christ,  and  Elder 
of  the  church,  through  the  will  of  God,  the  Father,  and 
the  grace  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ"  He  is  also  de- 
clared to  be  "  inspired  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  to  lay  the 
foundation  of  the  church,  and  build  it  up  in  the  most 
holy  faith ;"  and  the  church  is  commanded  to  keep  a 
perpetual  record  of  these  titles. 

"  Wherefore,  the  church  shall  give  heed  to  all  his 
words  and  commandments,  which  he  shall  give  unto  you: 
for  his  word  shall  ye  receive,  as  if  from  mine  own  mouth, 
in  all  patience  and  faith."  Again,  on  page  88,  the  first 
president  is  to  preside  over  the  whole  church,  and  be 
like  unto  Moses,  to  be  a  seer,  revelator,  translator, 
prophet,  having  all  the  gifts  which  God  bestows  upon 
the  head  of  the  church. 

These  are  the  moderate  qualifications,  indispensable, 
in  order  to  be  even  a  candidate  for  the  office  of  first 
president  of  the  Mormon  church.  But,  in  a  revela- 
tion given  February,  1831,  page  126,  Smith's  divinity 
confers  on  him  not  only  the  exclusive  right  to  receive 
and  give  forth  commandments  from  the  Lord,  but  also 
power  to  appoint  his  successor  ;  and  the  church  are 
commanded  to  "  uphold  him,  to  appoint  him,  to  provide 
him  food  and  raiment,  and  whatsoever  things  he  needeth 
to  accomplish  his  work,"  with  threats  for  disobedience 
as  usual.    Hence,  none  but  Smith,  or  his  appointed  suc- 

*  B.  C,  177. 


228  NUMBER  OF  DIGNITARIES. 

cessor,  can  ever  be  elected  to  stand  at  the  head  of  the 
church,  without  direct  disobedience  and  rebellion  against 
the  Mormon  god,  that  is,  Joe  Smith. 

In  a  revelation  of  September,  1831,  page  145,  all 
Smith's  dignities  and  titles  are  conferred  on  him  for 
life.  True,  he  may  be  removed  for  misconduct ;  but 
who  is  to  judge  ?  The  Lord,  surely  ;  but  by  whose 
mouth  ?  By  the  mouth  of  his  servant,  Joseph  Smith  ! 
This  is  first-rate  democracy,  to  say  nothing  of  apostolic 
humility  and  simplicity. 

In  a  revelation,  page  11 1,  the  world  is  informed  of  what 
they  very  wTell  knew  before,  that  Joe  Smith  "  had  no 
strength  to  work"  though  he  is  one  of  the  best  wrestlers 
in  the  county.  Therefore,  the  churches  are  commanded 
to  support  him,  with  the  usual  benedictions  and  cursings. 
See  also  Book  of  Commandments,  181,  where  the  church 
are  commanded  to  obey  him,  even  as  Aaron.  By  com- 
paring also  the  revelation  on  page  214  with  the  "Times 
and  Seasons,"  vol.  ii.,  No.  7,  pages  305  and  307,  the 
reader  will  see  that  Smith  has  the  power  of  holding  the 
keys  of  the  kingdom  of  God  forever,  and  that  this  is' 
only  the  modest  power  of  eternal  salvation  or  damna- 
tion over  the  flock,  the  same  as  is  arrogated  by  the  spirit- 
ual descendant  of  St.  Peter  at  Rome,  and  is  to  be  per- 
petuated to  the  spiritual  descendants  of  brother  Jose, 
the  democratic  general  at  Nauvoo. 

So  much  for  the  beautiful  symmetry,  simplicity,  and 
freedom  of  Mormon  democracy,  and  the  admirable 
consistency,  humility,  patience  and  self-denial  of  their 
servant,  the  Prophet  Joseph  Smith,  jr.,  General  of  Nau- 
voo militia,  and  head  of  the  church  throughout  the  earth. 

According  to  reports  from  England,  it  appears  that 
they  there  have  about  one   church   dignitary,  of  some 


NATURE  OF  FAITH.  229 

sort,  to  every  ten  private  members.  In  the  early  his- 
tory of  the  church  in  this  country,  the  proportion  was 
much  greater.  Here  lies  the  secret  of  their  success  ; 
every  thing  in  the  shape  of  a  man,  that  can  walk  and 
carry  his  catechisms,  is  forthwith  dubbed  high  priest, 
elder,  or  apostle,  (or  something  large.)  and  sent  forth 
to  trudge  and  beg,  with  a  single  comrade,  in  quest  of 
adventure  and  proselytes.  This  arrangement  operates 
at  once  as  a  motive  and  a  means  of  conquest.  Every 
ejected  or  discontented  dunce,  in  other  denominations, 
feels  sure  that,  if  he  joins  the  Mormons,  he  shall  be 
dubbed  «  knight  of  the  altar,  and  may  in  turn  trudge 
forth  in  quest  of  new  apostles,  until  perchance  he  tires 
in  his  new  labors,  or  fails  of  his  full  share  of  blushing 
honors,  doffs  the  badges  of  the  apostle  for  the  sackcloth 
of  the  apostate,  and  yields  up  his  faith  in  Joe  Smith  for 
faith  in  nothing  save  his  own  folly  and  delusion. 

We  will  next  consider  some  of  the  fundamental  doc- 
trines of  the  church. 

1.  The  nature  of  faith.  Their  doctrines,  on  this  fun- 
damental item  of  all  religion,  may  be  seen  at  large  in 
the  first  part  of  the  Book  of  Covenants.  There  can 
be  no  doubt  that  faith,  or  rational  belief,  in  things 
not  seen,  is  the  foundation  of  all  power,  all  energy,  all 
efficiency,  and  all  good,  temporal  and  eternal,  so  far  as 
man  is  concerned.  But  when  we  are  referred  to  Heb. 
xi.  3,  to  prove  that  faith  enabled  God  to  create  the 
world,  it  shocks  all  reason,  and  all  common  sense. 
The  apostle  tells  us  that  we  understand  it  through  faith, 
not  that  God  created  the  world  through  faith. 

Most  will  admit  also,  that  it  is  probable  that  the  first 
idea  of  a  Supreme  Being  has  travelled  down  from 
Adam,  to  whom  it  was   given    by  direct   revelation. 


230  EVIDENCE  OP  DIVINE  EXISTENCE. 

But  does  it  follow  from  this,  that  our  belief  in  a  Su- 
preme Being  rests,  either  in  whole  or  in  part,  on  mere 
human  testimony?  Doubtless  our  parents  first  sug- 
gested to  our  minds  the  idea  of  a  supreme  Divinity. 
But  with  the  heavens  over  our  heads,  and  the  earth 
under  our  feet,  all  declaring  and  demonstrating  his  be- 
ing, and  glory,  and  power,  do  we  still  believe  it  on  the 
bare  ground  of  human  testimony  ?  If  so,  we  must  be 
dolts  indeed.  This  is  as  though  one  should  maintain 
that  his  belief  in  the  existence  of  the  sun  rested  on 
human  testimony,  because,  forsooth,  his  father  happen- 
ed first  to  point  it  out  to  him. 

The  writer  next  proceeds  to  show,  that  we  also  come 
to  the  knowledge  of  the  moral  attributes  of  God  by 
revelations  made  to  men,  which  we  receive  on  the 
mere  ground  of  human  testimony.  This  is  like  believ- 
ing that  the  sun  is  warm,  because  our  grandfathers  sat 
under  his  beams  and  have  told  us  so.  Suppose  that 
we  found,  from  our  own  actual  individual  experience, 
that  God  was,  in  all  possible  ways,  constantly  endeav- 
oring to  deceive  and  torment  us,  instead  of  endeavor- 
ing to  do  us  good,  hour  by  hour,  and  day  by  day, 
should  we,  forsooth,  in  that  case,  believe  that  he  was 
wise,  and  good,  and  holy,  because  he  had  condescended 
to  tell  our  grandfathers  so?  No; — we  believe  that 
God  is  good,  not  on  human  testimony,  nor  yet  on  his 
own  testimony,  for  we  must  first  know  that  he  is  good, 
before  we  can  rationally  believe  a  word  he  says.  But 
we  believe  that  he  is  good,  because  we  observe  and 
experience  the  results  of  his  goodness  in  our  own  per- 
sons every  hour  of  our  lives. 

We  have  been  more  explicit  in  our  remarks  on  the 
first  four  lectures  on  faith,  because  we  perceive  here  a 


231  PINAL  CAUSE  OP  SUCH  PAITH. 

sort  of  entering  wedge  to  the  whole  system  of  Mor- 
monism.  The  absurd  and  contemptible  sophisms,  in 
these  four  chapters  on  faith,  are  intended  to  lie  as  an 
immoveable  foundation  to  the  whole  system.  Hence, 
by  a  sort  of  logical  agony,  the  profound  effort  was 
made,  by  beginning  away  back  at  the  creation,  with 
the  fundamental  idea  of  a  first  cause,  and  gradually  and 
carefully  creeping  along  up,  with  their  new  doctrine 
of  faith,  through  all  the  divine  attributes,  to  the  sublime 
conclusion,  that  all  religious  faith  does  and  must,  from 
the  very  nature  of  things,  rest  on  the  contemptible 
foundation  of  mere  human  testimony.  But  the  final 
end,  the  inevitable  conclusion,  from  all  this  Jesuitical 
sophistry,  is  cautiously  and  prudently  suppressed,  until 
a  more  suitable  opportunity  for  its  development.  We 
think  it  a  good  time  now  to  drag  this  detestable  infer- 
ence forth  from  its  hiding  place,  and  to  present  the 
whole  syllogism  in  broad  daylight,  where  all  men  may 
at  once  both  see  and  detest,  not  only  the  sophism,  but 
the  meanness  of  its  authors.  It  is  this.  All  faith,  even 
in  a  Supreme  Being,  rests  of  necessity  on  mere  human 
testimony  for  its  foundation.  Ergo,  (now  comes  the 
real  inference  meanly  suppressed,)  therefore  you  must 
believe  in  Joe  Smith,  Martin  Harris,  Oliver  Cowdery, 
and  David  Whitmer,  or  whatever  other  "  knaves, 
dupes  or  debauchees"  choose  to  draw  on  a  long  face 
and  come  to  you  in  the  name  of  the  Lord. 

This  is  the  sublime  logic  of  the  first  four  chapters 
on  faith  ! !  And  the  knavery  and  hypocrisy  of  omitting 
the  necessary,  inevitable,  and  intended  inference  from 
the  whole,  are  surely  not  the  least  detestable  parts  of 
the  effort. 

We  believe  neither  in  God,  nor  in  his  attributes,  nor 


232  MORMON  VIEWS  OF  THE  TRINITY. 

in  any  part  or  portion  of  divine  revelation,  on  the 
ground  of  mere  human  testimony,  and  we  never  shall 
so  long  as  we  retain  our  common  sense  ;  but  we  be- 
lieve in  all  these  on  much  higher  ground  than  the  mere 
conjoint  testimony  of  even  the  whole  human  race,  as 
has  been  shown. 

Much  less  shall  we  believe  in  the  testimony  of  those 
whom  this  professed  prophet  of  the  Lord  himself  has 
pronounced  "liars,  debauchees,  and  asses."  Nor  shall 
we  believe  in  the  lying,  money-digging,  drunken  de- 
ceiver, who  duped  them  to  give  their  testimony  to  such 
contemptible  gibberish  as  the  Book  of  Mormon. 

The  reader  will  pardon  our  extended  notice  of  this 
puerile  doctrine  of  faith.  It  is  not  worth  discussing,  I 
am  well  aware,  but  I  had  the  edification  of  the  saints 
in  view.  Besides  it  is  fundamental  in  Mormonism,  as 
well  as  in  some  other  fanaticisms. 

The  fourth  lecture  on  faith  treats  of  the  Trinity,  or 
rather  of  the  duality,  as  they  explain  it.  We  commend 
it  to  the  careful  perusal  of  those  who  think  they  can 
understand  and  explain  the  precise  mode  in  which  the 
Supreme  Intelligence  of  the  universe  exists,  as  readily 
as  they  can  the  properties  of  an  ellipse  or  a  triangle, 
and  who  are  enabled  to  expound  and  adjust  all  the 
powers  and  relations  of  the  Trinity,  with  the  same 
facility  that  they  can  the  various  compartments  of  an 
hour-glass. 

We  presume  a  criticism  on  this  paragraph  of  Mor- 
mon faith,  from  such  exalted  geniuses,  who,  by  the 
mystic  aid  of  "substances"  and  "essences,"  are  enabled 
to  solve  what  angels  cannot  comprehend,  would  be 
amusing,  if  not  important  to  the  public.  We  leave  it 
to  them. 


MORMON    SACRIFICE    OF    ALL    THINGS.  233 

In  the  sixth  lecture  on  faith,  the  proposition  is  an- 
nounced and  maintained,  that  men  know  their  accept- 
ance with  God  "  only  through  the  medium  of  the  sac- 
rifice of  all  earthly  things."    Verse  7. 

In  the  first  place,  we  would  inquire,  What  is  meant 
by  "  the  sacrifice  of  all  earthly  things,"  if  our  eternal 
reward  is  to  consist  in  similar  things — eternal  cities, 
eternal  gold,  and  eternal  farms,  instead  of  temporal 
cities,  gold,  and  farms  ?  Again :  Are  these  sacrifices 
of  all  worldly  things  to  be  made  at  the  bidding  of  Joe 
Smith  and  his  counsellors  ?  Are  we  to  yield  them  up 
to  God  through  their  hands,  or  are  we  not  ? 

The  language  of  these  exhortations  would  be  well 
enough,  were  they  not  in  known  connection  with  the 
ends  and  aims  of  Smith  and  his  comrades.  But  as  it 
is,  the  plain  meaning  is  this :  You  must  give  up  all 
worldly  things  to  God,  as  an  indispensable  condition  of 
salvation.  Very  well — agreed.  But  who  is  to  inform 
us  of  what  things  God  has  need  ?  Why,  the  Lord's 
prophet  at  Nauvoo,  to  be  sure.  And  to  whom  are  we 
to  pay  it  over  ?  To  the  Lord's  servants  at  Nauvoo. 
All  our  wealth,  according  to  the  first  edition  of  the 
Book  of  Covenants,  and  part  of  it  only,  according  to 
the  second  edition.  Very  well.  All  this  is  nice.  We 
think  we  will  take  our  chance  of  salvation  on  some 
other  ground. 

This  lecture  on  the  sacrifice  of  all  things,  we 
are  informed,  is  so  plain,  that  the  customary  cate- 
chism upon  it  at  the  end  is  deemed  unnecessary.  We 
have  supplied  one,  with  appropriate  answers,  which  we 
would  respectfully  commend  to  the  "  saints,"  to  be  ap- 
pended to  the  next  edition  of  this  plausible  lecture.  It 
would  constitute  a  better  typographical  correction  than 


234  AERIAL    FAITH    AND    MORMON    MIRACLES. 

the  prophet  is  wont  to  make  in  his  revelations,  even 
where  he  adds  whole  pages  to  the  original  text.  The 
student  is  also  advised,  by  the  Mormons,  to  commit  the 
whole  lecture  to  memory;  it  is  so  important.  We  ad- 
vise him  to  do  the  same,  and  to  take  our  catechism  with 
it,  since  the  prophet  has  supplied  none.  The  conclu- 
ding, seventh  lecture  on  faith,  we  would  also  commend 
to  theological  mystics  and  system-mongers  of  all  creeds. 
Faith  here  is  made  to  mount  up  into  regions  where  they 
delight  to  soar.  We  fear  we  should  fall  from  the  gid- 
dy height.  We  choose,  then,  to  stand  on  terra  firm'a, 
and  stretch  up  our  necks,  to  see  how  other  geese  rise 
and  fly  through  these  aerial  heights. 

We  have  already  noticed  the  fundamental  dogma 
and  final  exhortation  of  Mor monism,  and  of  all  other 
spurious  creeds,  viz — You  must  believe  on  mere  human 
testimony,  and  then  give  all  you  have  to  God's  appoint- 
ed witnesses  of  the  faith;  we  have  dragged  them  forth 
from  their  lurking-places  by  the  incipient  catechism  on 
faith,  and  that  is  all  we  can  do  at  present. 

The  next  move  of  the  Mormons,  after  having  thus 
got  a  firm  foothold  upon  the  credulity  of  their  follow- 
ers, is  to  remove  one  insuperable  objection  to  their 
scheme — viz,  utter  want  of  all  accredited  or  rational 
evidence  that  it  is  from  God.  This  they  do,  by  deny- 
ing that  the  miracles  of  the  Bible  were  wrought  of  old 
by  God,  in  attestation  of  the  veracity  of  his  servants, 
before  the  world  ;  but  they  affirm,  that  they  were 
wrought  simply  for  the  benefit  of  those  who  believe,  or 
the  saints. 

To  prove  this,  instead  of  taking  the  Bible  literally, 
where  Moses  is  said  to  have  wrought  signs  to  show 
that  he  was  commissioned  of  God,  and  also  in  John,  x. 


MORMON    MIRACLES. 

37,  xv.  24,  Acts,  ii.  3,  and  numberless  other  passages, 
on  almost  every  page  of  the  Bible,  where  even  Christ 
himself  is  represented  as  commanding  the  Jews  not  to 
take  him  at  his  word,  but  to  look  at  his  works,  or  mira- 
cles, because  "  he  that  beareth  witness  of  himself  is  not 
true  ;"  all  these  they  virtually  deny,  or  contradict, 
and  then  tell  us  that  they  take  them  literally.  Still, 
they  contend  that  there  can  be  no  true  church  on  earth, 
without  prophets,  apostles,  power  of  miracles,  gifts  of 
tongues,  of  healing,  etc.,  etc.,  and  that  their  church 
alone  possesses  these. 

These  extravagant  dogmas  and  absurd  claims,  com- 
mon to  all  impostors,  in  all  ages,  they  base  on  the  fol- 
lowing passages  of  Scripture.  It  is  said  in  Mark,  xvi. 
17,  "These  signs  shall  follow  them  that  believe,"  (enu- 
merating the  signs.)  They  fall  into  a  mistake  here, 
which  is  common  to  them  and  all  other  fanatics,  viz, 
that  of  understanding  all  that  was  said  by  Christ  and 
his  apostles  to  their  hearers,  as  of  course  said  to  them. 
Hence  they  infer,  that  these  signs  were  to  follow,  not 
only  those  who  believed  on  the  twelve  apostles,  as  the 
text  literally  asserts,  and  as  was  the  case  at  the  day  of 
Pentecost,  and  on  various  other  occasions,  but,  forsooth, 
they  maintain  that  these  signs  were  to  follow  all  those 
who  should  afterwards  believe  the  gospel,  in  all  ages 
of  the  world,  which  the  text  does  not  assert.  This  they 
call  a  literal  interpretation.  But  when  we  grant  them 
this  position,  and  say,  Very  well,  bravo !  now  show  us 
the  signs,  and  we  will  believe ;  their  ready  reply  is, 
"A  wicked  and  adulterous  generation  seeketh  for  a 
sign,  and  verily  there  shall  no  sign  be  given  them ;" 
and  here  they  stop,  forgetting  to  refer  us  to  any  past 
or  future  sign,  as  the  Saviour  referred  those  whom  he 


236         GIFTS    OF    HEALING AGUE,    PROPHETS,    ETC. 

rebuked  in  this  passage,  because  they  had  before  refu- 
sed to  look  at  the  multitude  of  signs  he  had  already 
given  them. 

And  now,  for  a  long  time,  the  teeth  of  the  Mormons 
have  been  chattering  with  the  ague,  induced  by  the  tri- 
als of  poverty  and  want,  which  have  been  brought  upon 
them  by  their  frequent  removals  from  place  to  place, 
and  the  stone  temple,  bank  stock,  mercantile,  prairie 
land,  and  tavern-house  speculations  of  the  Lord's  prophet 
and  his  compeers  ;  and  their  teeth  still  chatter,  and  their 
bones  still  burn  and  ache,  though  they  alone,  of  all  oth- 
ers, possess  the  miraculous  gifts  of  healing,  given,  as  we 
are  assured,  for  the  express  purpose  of  comforting  the 
saints  on  earth,  and  for  no  other  purpose. 

But  all  this,  we  are  told,  is  because,  forsooth,  after  ten 
years'  trial,  they  cannot  bring  their  faith  up  to  the  stick- 
ing-point  necessary  to  cure  this  ague.  And  yet  we  are 
told,  that  sometimes  they  achieve  wonders  with  the 
hysterics  and  the  "  blues,"  which  we  believe  are  the 
only  kind  of  devils  they  have  ever  succeeded  in  cast- 
ing out. 

We  are  assured,  also,  that  there  can  be  no  church, 
without  prophets  and  apostles.  We  ask  them  to  proph- 
esy ;  and  the  prophet,  in  1831,  points  us  to  the  destruc- 
tion which  awaits  the  Mormons,  in  the  Eastern  coun- 
try, and  withdraws  them  from  impending  ruin  to  Mount 
Zion,  Jackson  county,  Missouri,  the  everlasting  posses- 
sion of  the  saints,  the  fairie  land  of  Mormon  faith,  Mor- 
mon peace,  and  Mormon  bliss.* 

We  ask  them,  Whom  did  the  apostles  apooint  as 


*  See  B.  C,  p.  151,  12;   p.  190,  2;  p.  192,  1 ;  p.  194,  9 ;  p.  139, 
11,12,  13;  p.  154,  1,2. 


COMMISSION  TO  PREACH  AND  WORK  MIRACLES.       237 

their  successors  in  their  apostleship,  and  whether  it  was 
not  their  fault  that  the  office  ended  with  them  ?  The 
Mormons  make  no  reply. 

Again,  we  ask,  Who  is  empowered  to  revive  the 
long-lost  succession  ?  All  caps  are  thrown  up,  and  all 
voices  at  once  shout,  "  Joe  Smith  !  Joe  Smith ! !  He 
is  the  Prophet  of  the  Lord  !"  He  holds  both  the  keys 
and  the  cash  of  the  church,  though,  as  we  have  seen, 
he  once,  in  time  of  danger,  committed  the  sword  to  his 
favorite  mastiff. 

To  cap  the  climax  of  these  absurdities,  Parley  Pratt 
contends,  {hat  the  general  commission  referred  to  in 
Mark,  to  preach  the  gospel,  was  limited  to  those  who 
heard  it,  while  the  many  signs  that  were  to  follow  are 
granted  to  all  coming  generations  ! !  So  that,  while 
we  must  all  wait  for  a  new  revelation  to  preach,  we 
all  have  liberty  to  cast  out  devils  as  soon  as  we  be- 
lieve !  !#  I  hope  he  will  not  complain  that  I  have 
omitted  the  former,  and  am  trying  my  hand  at  the 
latter. 

They  next  refer  to  I.  Cor.,  xii.,  which  they  expound 
with  marvellous  ability. 

From  the  rear  of  this  invaluable  breastwork  of  logic, 
Parley  opens  an  inspired  cannonade  of  commingled 
metaphysics,  eloquence,  and  pathos,  and  concludes  with 
the  prayer,  "  that  the  vision  should  be  shut  up ;"  in 
which  prayer  all  men  of  common  sense,  I  presume,  will 
heartily  unite.     So  here  we  drop  it. 

I  would  just  suggest,  that  he  and  all  other  Mormons 
have  forgotten  to  read  and  interpret,  literally,  the  apos- 
tle's argument  through,  to  the  end  of  the  13th  chapter 

*  See  Voice  of  Warning,  p.  112. 


238  THE    MORMON    HIERARCHY. 

of  I.  Corinthians.  They  are  particularly  silent  upon  that 
verse  in  which  the  apostle  says,  literally,  that  prophe- 
cies shall  fail,  and  tongues  shall  cease,  and  all  else  but 
faith,  (not  Mormon  faith,  we  presume,)  hope,  and  char- 
ity. 

The  outlines  of  their  despotic  hierarchy  have  al- 
ready been  presented.  The  names  indeed  of  their  sev- 
eral orders  and  offices  are  found  in  the  Scriptures.  But 
that  the  name  is  nothing,  and  the  powers  of  an  office 
every  thing,  some  other  apostolic  sects  would  do  well 
to  learn,  as  well  as  the  Mormons.  We  look  in  vain 
for  the  origin  of  the  definite  powers  of  such  hierarchies, 
baptized  with  scripture  names,  except  in  the  crania  of 
their  respective  godfathers.  In  this  case,  Joseph  Smith, 
jun.,  General  of  Nauvoo  Militia,  happens  to  be  the 
man. 

The  system  also  establishes  a  somewhat  more  perfect 
despotism  than  has  been  reached  by  any  other  hier- 
archy. It  concentrates  all  power  in  the  person  of  the 
valorous  translator.  This  is  the  principal  difference 
between  the  Joe  Smith  of  Illinois,  and  other  Joe 
Smiths  who  have  trodden  the  path  of  hierarchal  fame 
before  him.  They  one  and  all,  from  Pope  Linus  down- 
ward, demonstrate  the  divine  origin  of  their  religious 
oligarchies  from  Scripture,  because,  forsooth,  the  names 
with  which  they  have  chosen  to  christen  their  several 
functionaries  are  found  in  that  sacred  volume.  The 
progress  which  Joseph  has  made  in  the  Divine  favor, 
since  the  typographical  correction  of  that  unlucky  rev- 
elation, "  Thou  shalt  aspire  to  no  other  gift,  save  to 
translate,"  may  be  seen  from  an  enumeration  of  his  ac- 
cumulating titles  in  the  Book  of  Covenants,  177  and  88, 
also  at  the  close  of  the  former. 


WITNESS    OF    THE    SPIRIT.  239 

The  next  chapter  on  the  fundamental  doctrines  of 
Mormonism,  which  we  shall  notice,  is  "  the  witness  of 
the  Spirit,"  as  they  term  it.  This  is  always  the  last  re- 
sort. After  running  the  whole  round  of  argument, 
discussing  the  merits  of  Joseph's  bough,  and  its  literal 
leap  across  the  wall  of  the  Atlantic  ocean ;  glancing  at 
the  upspringing  truth  and  downlooking  righteousness 
of  David;  brandishing,  with  triumphant  flourishes,  the 
two  sticks  of  Ezekiel ;  gazing  at  the  angel  flying  away 
with  the  Book  of  Mormon ;  and  having  appealed  to 
Mark's  limited  charter  for  preaching  the  gospel,  and 
general  permission  to  cast  out  devils,  there  is  a  solemn 
pause.  You  ask  for  a  sign ;  but  verily  no  sign  shall  be 
given  you.  You  demand  proof;  the  ready  reply  is — ■ 
"  I  know  that  Mormonism  is  true,  for  God  has  revealed 
it  to  me,  in  my  soul."  Very  good ;  but  how  shall  I 
know  it  ?  "  Ask  in  faith,  as  I  have  done,  and  it  shall  be 
given  you."  That  is,  first  believe  it,  then  ask,  and  then 
you  shall  know  it  is  true.  To  require  this  process  is 
much  the  same  as  to  require  one  to  eat  his  dinner  raw, 
and  to  cook  it  afterwards. 

By  this  patent  mode  of  procedure,  both  Pratt  and 
Rigdon  assure  us  that  they  discovered  ultimately  that 
what  they  had  at  first  pronounced  a  base  fabrication, 
was  indeed  a  new  and  wonderful  revelation  from  God. 
It  should  be  noticed  here,  that  asking  in  faith,  accord- 
ing to  the  Book  of  Covenants,  is  actual  believing,  for 
"  where  doubt  and  uncertainty  is,"  say  they,  "  there 
faith  is  not,  nor  can  be."*  Doubtless  any  one  might 
discover  the  truth  of  any  thing  in  the  same  way. 

The  fanatical  doctrine  of  the  spirit  is  more  fully  dis- 

*  B.  C.  62.  12. 


240  EdUALlTY    WITH    GOD. 

cussed  upon  another  page.*  We  only  repeat  here,  that 
the  man  who  neglects  the  employment  of  the  written  word, 
natural  reason,  and  conscience,  which  God  has  given  him 
for  his  guidance,  and  yields  himself  up  to  his  own  in- 
ternal impulses  and  phantasies,  from  that  moment  throws 
himself  out  from  under  the  guidance  of  God,  and  yields 
himself  up  to  the  guidance  of  darkness  and  delusion. 
And  the  spirit  of  darkness  will  not  be  slow  to  in- 
struct and  guide  him  in  whatever  way  he  sees  fit.  He 
will  soon  know  with  dogmatical  assurance  every  thing 
in  the  universe,  save  one,  viz,  that  he  himself  has  be- 
come a  religious  lunatic,  bereft  of  all  common  sense. 

I  have  reserved  one  choice  specimen  of  "  Mormon 
logic  and  literal  interpretation  of  the  Scriptures,"  with 
which  to  grace  the  climax  of  this  Mormon  Babel.  I 
have  done  this,  partly  because  it  holds  and  deserves  the 
highest  place  in  the  system,  and  partly  because  I  wish  so 
to  hold  it  up,  that  all  men  may  look  at  this  hideous  and 
blasphemous  abortion  of  all  scripture,  all  reason,  all  de- 
cency, and  all  sense. 

Christ  prayed,  say  they,  that  all  the  saints  might  be 
one  with  him  and  the  Father.  He  has  declared  also 
that  they  are  joint  heirs  with  him,  and  shall  sit  down  with 
him  on  his  throne,  as  he  has  overcome  and  sat  down 
with  the  Father  on  his  throne ;  that  to  those  that  believe, 
all  things  are  possible,  &c.  Now  what  logical,  literal, 
and  inspired  inference,  are  we  to  make  from  this? 
Why,  truly,  nothing  else  than  that  the  saints  are  all  to 
become  equal  with  God  himself ! !  In  knowledge,  and 
power,  and  glory,  equal  to  the  Father  !  !  But  this  is 
not  all ;  Christ  assured  his  disciples,  that  they  should  do 

*  See  p.  115-116. 


EQUALITY    WITH    GOD,  241 

even  greater  things  than  these.  Therefore,  say  they, 
we  shall  create,  uphold,  redeem,  save,  and  reign  for 
ever,  over  still  greater  worlds  than  this  which  Christ 
governs  !  !* 

This  is  almost  as  literal  as  the  bough  and  the  wall, 
the  two  sticks,  and  the  flying  angel.  What  part  the 
"liars,  knaves,  swindlers,  debauchees,  and  asses"  (who 
bore  witness  to,  and  constitute  the  foundation  of  the 
Book  of  Mormon,  and  on  whose  shoulders  the  whole 
superstructure  rests,)  are  to  have  in  these  displays  of 
Mormon  glory,  we  are  not  definitely  told.  But  since, 
according  to  Mormon  doctrine,  they  have  been  the 
principal  means  of  turning  many  to  righteousness, 
doubtless  they  will  shine  as  stars  somewhere  in  this 
new  firmament  of  gods,  higher  than  the  Highest. 

Surely,  when  this  notable  day  shall  come,  all  things 
will  be  created  new,  with  a  vengeance  ! !  We  see  here 
what  it  is  that  inspires  the  ardor  and  inflates  the 
zeal  of  the  idiot  multitude  of  that  professed  church. 
They  are  to  possess  the  fulness  and  wealth  of  the  earth 
here,  and  reign  with  Christ  in  Mount  Zion,  Missouri,  a 
thousand  years,  and  hereafter  they  are  to  become,  not 
demigods,  but  literal  deities,  one  and  all  of  them. 
Why  then  talk  about  sacrifices  ?  They  can  afford  to 
empty  their  pockets  into  the  coffers  of  Smith  and  Com- 
pany, and  to  traverse  the  world,  barefoot,  in  quest  of 
new  Zions  and  new  proselytes,  with  such  a  splendid 
reversion  in  prospect. 

But  every  Mormon  is  not  only  to  be  a  god  hereafter; 
he  has,  in  his  own  belief,  been  a  demigod  from  all  eter- 
nity, or  at  least  an  angel  heretofore. 

*  See  Pratt's  Truth  Vindicated,  p.  27. 
11 


242  PRE-EXISTENCE — -MODE  OF  PREACHING, 

Their  sublime  faith  teaches  them  that  their  action 
and  destiny  here  are  the  result,  and  can  be  explained 
only  upon  the  admission,  of  their  existence  and  action 
before  they  inhabited  their  present  bodies.  This  notion, 
however,  does  not  distinctly  appear  in  their  published 
revelations.  It  was  at  one  time  promulgated,  but  from 
its  unpopularity,  their  leaders  suppressed  the  full  devel- 
opement  of  their  peculiar  scheme  of  pre-existence  until 
faith  on  the  earth  should  increase.* 

These  general  theories  of  humanity  enable  them,  as 
they  think,  to  give  a  full  and  literal  interpretation  to  the 
language  of  Scripture,  which,  without  these  enlarged 
views,  as  they  call  them,  of  the  origin  and  destiny  of 
man,  are  utterly  inexplicable.  Reader,  remember  that 
when  you  meet  a  full-blooded  Mormon,  you  meet  an 
angel  that  was,  a  Mormon  that  is,  and  a  God  that  is  to 
be.  As  in  the  case  of  the  man  who  fell  down  stairs, 
and  ran  up  again,  you  will  find  the  lowest  point  in  the 
climax  in  the  middle  of  his  career. 

Probably,  however,  not  one  Mormon  in  fifty  knows 
what  is  really  taught  in  their  own  sacred  books.  In 
preaching  and  writing  creeds  in  new  places  they  do 
not  generally  even  allude  to  the  peculiarities  of  Mor- 
monism  as  such.  They  take  their  texts,  and  preach  a 
somewhat  peculiar  form  of  Christianity,  which,  in  truth, 
is  as  much  like  the  Mormonism  at  Nauvoo,  as  it  is  like 
paganism,  and  no  more  so.  This,  at  first,  they  call 
Mormonism.  But  the  doctrines  of  their  sacred  books 
and  teachers  are  quite  another  thing.  Every  believer, 
either  in  Smith  or  the  Book  of  Mormon,  must  believe 
that  that  book  and  the  Book  of  Covenants,  or  revela- 

*  B.C.,  211,  115. 


REAL  BELIEF  OF  MORMONS.  243 

tions  to  Smith,  are  on  a  level  with  the  Bible,  and  that 
all  who  thus  receive  them  will  be  saved,  and  that  all 
others  will  be  damned.* 

2.  They  believe  the  Bible  only  as  Smith  interprets  and 
explains,  or  new  translates  and  supplies  the  lost  parts.f 

3.  They  believe  in  four  different  future  states  :  the 
celestial,  telestial,  terrestrial,  and  the  lake  of  fire.  J 

If  the  reader  has  doubts  on  any  of  these  points,  he  is 
requested  to  compare  the  pages  and  passages  cited  in 
proof  with  care. 

4.  Their  literal  interpretation  of  Scripture  not  only 
involves  giving  to  the  Deity  a  human  form,  and  imple- 
ments of  human  enterprise,  but  also  the  literal  future 
levelling  of  mountains,  annihilating  seas,  and  bringing 
the  whole  earth  into  one  vast  plain,  without  weeds, 
thorns,  briers,  or  any  useless  or  hurtful  thing — all  as 
neat  and  as  smooth  as  the  head  of  a  pair  of  brass  and- 
irons ;  and  it  is  to  be  smelted  and  polished  into  shape 
much  in  the  same  way. 

5.  The  Book  of  Covenants  and  Revelations,  as  it  is 
called,  which  is  the  real  basis  of  the  practical  faith  of 
the  Mormons,  contains  only  a  small  part  of  the  revela- 
tions that  have  actually  been  given  to  Smith,  as  he  pre- 
tends. There  is  still  a  large  folio  of  unpublished  rev- 
elations of  many  hundreds,  which  it  would  be  indiscreet 
to  expose  to  the  rude  gaze  of  unbelievers,  but  which 
a  Mormon  is  really  bound  to  believe  and  obey  wherever 
he  meets  them,  or  else  believe  that  Smith,  to  whom 


*  In  proof  of  this,  see  B.  C,  pages  77,  74,  180,  159,  78,  75,  93,  95, 
104,  113,  23,  250,  174,  175,  176,  189,  in  order, 
t  B.  C.  7,  16,  111  ;    B.  M.  30,  31,  first  edition ;    B.  C.  76,  117,  166. 
t  B.  C.  225. 


244  SUPPRESSED  AND  ALTERED  REVELATIONS. 

they  are  given,  is  an  impostor :  for  he  has  declared 
them  all  to  be  from  God,  and  printed  only  so  many  of 
them  as  he  deemed  prudent.  Some  of  those  not  pub- 
lished occasionally  meet  us,  through  either  the  indis- 
cretion of  the  brethren  or  the  kindness  of  seceders. 

The  revelations  in  the  Book  of  Covenants  cannot  be 
understood  without  carefully  comparing  them  with  the 
history  and  position  of  the  Mormon  church  at  the  time 
they  were  given.  The  transfers  of  town-lots,  tan-yards, 
&c.  &c,  to  Smith  and  Company,  by  express  revelation, 
are  also  artfully  concealed  by  the  use  of  antiquated, 
fictitious  names,  both  for  the  persons  and  the  property. 
It  should  also  be  remembered  that  revelations,  said  to 
be  given  to  others,  are  always  given  through  Smith, 
who  is  sole  translator,  and  who,  according  to  one  reve- 
lation, aspires  to  no  other  gift,*  but,  according  to 
another,  claims  all  gifts  and  all  authority. 

In  1833,  an  edition  of  these  revelations  was  published, 
in  the  order  of  their  dates,  and  called  the  "  Book  of 
Commandments,"  with  explanatory  captions  at  the  head 
of  each  revelation.  That  edition  has  been  wisely  sup- 
pressed. It  was  quite  too  luminous  for  Mormonism.  In 
1835,  the  present  book  came  forth,  with  the  type,  &c, 
corrected.  The  captions  are  left  out,  and  the  revela- 
tions are  scattered  here  and  there,  without  any  order 
of  time  or  date.  It  now  takes  a  Mormon  to  hunt  them 
out,  and  compare  them  with  facts  in  their  history.  Nor 
is  this  all ;  whole  clauses,  sections,  and,  in  some  cases, 
almost  entire  pages  are  either  added  or  suppressed,  as 
new  exigencies  required,  in  these  said  divine  revela- 
tions.    Let  not  the  pious  "  saint"  complain  of  this.     It 

*  B.  C.  126. 


PATRIARCHAL  BLESSINGS.  245 

is  the  duty  of  his  prophet  to  see  that  the  revelations 
are  corrected,  from  time  to  time.  The  disciple  has 
nothing  to  do  but  to  believe. 

When  old  Mr.  Smith,  the  father  of  Joe,  was  alive, 
he,  among  the  rest,  needed  something  to  do.  He  was 
consequently  dubbed  patriarch,  and  it  was  his  duty  to 
pronounce  a  patriarchal  blessing,  in  the  name  of  Jesus 
Christ,  on  the  head  of  all  the  fatherless  children  in  the 
Mormon  church.  He  had  a  wonderful  gift  of  prophecy, 
which,  like  a  cider-barrel  tapped  at  both  ends,  spun  out 
both  towards  the  past  and  the  future.  He  predicted  to 
these  sons  of  the  church  both  their  pedigree  and  their 
destiny;  told  them  what  particular  tribe  of  Israel  they 
were  from,  and  what  their  future  career  would  be,  in 
this  world  and  the  next. 

Several  of  these  patriarchal  blessings  have  fallen 
into  our  hands.  They  are  all  much  the  same  thing. 
He  usually  first  gave  them  their  pedigree,  then  stimu- 
lated their  vanity,  poulticed  their  hopes,  and  blistered 
their  fears,  according  to  the  best  of  his  ability.  We 
will  give  one  as  a  specimen,  which  was  given  to  Mr. 
Harris,  whom  Smith  first  plundered  of  his  property, 
and  whose  character  he  has  since  attempted  to  destroy. 
He  was,  for  one  time,  through  seven  years,  a  preacher 
of  Mormonism,  but,  in  common  with  many  others,  his 
eyes  were  at  last  opened,  and  he  is  now  one  of  their 
most  laborious  and  successful  opponents.  And  it  may 
be  remarked,  that  now  the  blessings  promised  to  his 
obedience  really  begin  to  flow  in  upon  him.  He  seemed 
really  to  be  laboring  under  a  curse  from  heaven  until 
he  began  publicly  to  lecture  against  Mormonism  and 
the  Mormons. 


246  PATRIARCHAL  BLESSING. 

A  PATRIARCHAL  BLESSING, 

By  Joseph  Smith,  senior,  Kirtland,  Ohio,  May  2,  1836, 
for  William  Harris,  who  was  born  in  Fredericktown, 
N.  B.,  January  19,  1823. 

Brother  Harris — In  the  name  of  Jesus,  I  lay  my 
hands  upon  thy  head,  according  to  the  authority  of  the 
priesthood,  and  the  holy  anointing,  and  the  calling  of 
God,  and  pronounce  a  patriarchal  blessing  upon  thee. 

Thou  hast  been  willing  to  leave  thy  native  land  for 
the  cause  of  God.  Thou  hast  suffered  much,  and  for 
thy  pains  shall  be  rewarded  ten-fold.  The  riches  of 
the  earth  shall  flow  unto  thee  in  time,  and  thou  shalt 
receive  the  blessings  of  Abraham,  Isaac,  and  Jacob, 
and  they  shall  reach  thy  posterity  also ;  and  thy  fa- 
ther's house  shall  follow  on,  and  be  gathered  with 
thee  unto  the  mountain  of  Israel.  Thou  art  of  the 
seed  of  Israel,  and  the  Lord  hath  watched  over 
thee.  Thou  shalt  preach  in  thy  native  land,  far  in 
the  cold  North ;  thou  shalt  also  preach  in  the  South, 
and  in  the  East  and  West,  and  the  Lord  shall  be 
with  thee  wherever  thou  shalt  go ;  and  thou  shalt 
win  many  souls.  Angels  shall  be  thy  guard  upon  thy 
right  hand  and  thy  left ;  even  the  twelve  legions 
shall  watch  over  thee :  thou  mayest  see  them,  if  thou 
wilt  believe  ;  and  if  any  arm  is  raised  against  thee,  it 
shall  fall,  and  all  weapons  wielded  to  thy  hurt  shall  per- 
ish. If  any  dig  pits  for  thee,  they  shall  fall  therein  :  if 
they  seek  to  confound  thee  with  subtle  questions,  they 
shall  be  confounded ;  for  the  Lord  will  keep  his  own 
anointed,  and  fill  them  with  knowledge.  Thou  shalt 
see  within  the  veil,  and   know   that  thy  Redeemer 


PATRIARCHAL    BLESSING.  247 

lives,  like  Paul,  and  testify,  like  unto  thy  brethren,  that 
thou  hast  seen  angels,  and  heard  the  voice  of  God. 
Thou  must  keep  the  word  of  wisdom,  and  observe 
all  the  commandments,  and  thou  shalt  have  all  the 
blessings  thou  canst  ask  for,  for  thyself  and  thy  pos- 
terity ;  and  they  shall  rise  up  and  call  thee  blessed,  for 
thou  shalt  bless  thy  children,  and  thy  blessing  shall  re- 
main :  thou  shalt  be  blessed  in  thy  outgoings  and  in  thy 
incomings,  and  thy  arm  shall  prevail,  like  unto  the  Al- 
mighty's ;  for  his  own  power  shall  be  round  about  thee, 
and  thou  shalt  have  all  power,  even  to  translate  thy- 
self, and  change  into  a  shadow ;  so  that  if  any  shall 
smite  at  thee,  they  shall  only  hit  thy  shadow,  and  thou 
shalt  be  in  another  place ;  and  the  eyes  of  thy  enemies 
shall  be  blinded,  so  that  they  cannot  see  thee,  and  thou 
shalt  escape  their  power.  This  is  thy  blessing  ;  and  I 
cannot  tell  thee  all,  but  the  Lord  shall  add  unto  it  a 
hundred-fold. 

I  seal  thee  up  unto  eternal  life,  in  the  name  of  Jesus. 
Amen. 

Signed, 

Joseph  Smith,  Senior. 

These  blessings  were  pronounced  by  Smith,  in  the 
usual  form,  and  written  down  and  recorded  on  the 
records  of  the  church,  by  a  scribe  ;  and  a  copy  was 
given  to  the  person  on  whom  they  were  pronounced. 

If  such  mummeries  can  be  daily  enacted  in  the  world, 
without  resulting  either  in  utter  lunacy  or  atheism,  it  is 
difficult  to  see  what  could  produce  these  results. 

Whether  any  successor  is  appointed  to  mumble,  with 
his  eyes  shut,  over  the  heads  of  the  orphan  children  of 
the  church,  since  the  death  of  old  Smith,  is  unknown. 


248  PATRIARCHAL    BLESSING. 

If  so,  it  is  to  be  hoped  that  he  will  come  nearer  the 
truth  than  Smith  did,  both  in  his  future  and  retrospec- 
tive prophecies  :  for  it  so  happened,  that  the  above  was 
as  untrue  in  the  past,  as  it  was  in  the  then  future,  his- 
tory of  Mr.  Harris. 

This  outline  is  perhaps  sufficient  to  give  a  general 
idea  of  the  organization  of  the  "  Church  of  Latter  Day 
Saints."  At  present,  things  go  on  smoothly.  Smith 
has  little  to  do  but  to  appoint  new  stakes,  buy  and  sell 
town-lots,  obtain  charters,  build  temples,  and  gather  the 
"  saints,"  and  their  cash,  from  the  four  quarters  of  the 
globe,  upon  his  consecrated  stakes. 


REASON    SILENCED.  249 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

PROGRESS    OF    MORMONISM. ITS    CAUSES,  ILLUSTRATED    BY 

NUMEROUS    EXAMPLES. 

Morbid  imagination — Morbid  emotions — Popular  errors  as  regards  hu- 
man testimony — as  regards  influences  of  Holy  Spirit — St.  Bernard, 
-Land  pirate— Sympathetic  convulsions — Black-death  in  Germany — 
Terantismus  in  Italy — Tigretia  of  Abyssinia — Tremblers  of  Cevennes, 
and  Camisards — Convulsions  of  St.  Medcord — Animal  Magnetism — 
Convulsions  at  Haerlem — at  Anglesea  and  Unst — Kirk  officer — English 
factory — Revivals  at  Everton,  Cambuslang — Kentucky — Jerks,  Barks, 
and  Mormons — Philosophy  of  these  phenomena — Consequences  of 
absurd  opinions — Internal  revelations,  visions,  raptures,  holy  com. 
forts,  &c. — Old  Monks — Art  of  dreaming — Marvellous  experience  of 
the  Mormons  —  Sectarianism —  Mystic  interpretation —  Mystic  and 
Mormon  deity — Mormon  facility  of  argument — War  on  human  na- 
ture— Gifts  of  healing — Dr.  Gerbi's  bugs — Scurvy  at  Pruda — Perkins' 
metallic  tractors — Prophet  Austin — These  cures  not  miracles — Mor- 
mons increase  through  neglect — Policy  of  their  leaders. 

The  same  general  causes  which  have  produced  sim- 
ilar fanaticisms  in  all  ages,  have  undoubtedly  operated 
in  the  production  and  rapid  progress  of  the  Mormon 
delusion.  The  combined  action  of  the  love  of  power 
in  the  few,  and  the  love  of  licentious  freedom  in  the 
many,  upon  the  instinct  of  faith,  has  been  exhibited,  in 
brief,  both  in  their  philosophy  and  their  results,  in  the 
chapter  on  Fanaticisms. 

The  immediate  processes  by  which  the  instinct  of 

faith  is  corrupted  and  perverted  in  the  human  soul,  are 

various.     The  most  common  method,  in  all  ages  and 

climes,  has  been  to  debase  and  silence  reason,  by  the 

11* 


250  MORBID    IMAGINATION. 

combined  force  of  dogmatism,  imagination,  and  pas- 
sion. 

The  God  of  nature  designed  instruction  of  all  sorts, 
human  and  divine,  only  to  enlighten  and  reinstate  the 
lost  dominion  of  right  reason,  and  render  her  the  guide 
of  conscience  and  the  guardian  of  the  soul.  But  reli- 
ligion,  in  all  pagan,  and  in  many  Christian  lands,  has 
but  too  often  been  made  to  confound  and  annihilate 
reason,  under  the  pretext  of  reinstating  a  higher  prin- 
ciple, falsely  called  faith. 

All  that  is  needful,  in  order  to  commence  this  pro- 
cess in  the  mind,  is  only  to  teach  men  that  they  are  to 
receive  and  believe  propositions  and  dogmas,  at  which 
natural  and  wholesome  reason  revolts,  on  the  mere 
ground  of  human  authority. 

In  short,  exalt  dogmas  and  depress  reason,  deify  the 
one  and  crush  the  other,  but  in  a  single  instance,  and 
the  work  is  done  ;  you  have  your  fanatic,  and  you  may 
now  control  him  as  you  can.  The  soul,  instead  of 
being  enlightened,  as  God  designed,  has,  in  fact,  been 
enslaved. 

Reason,  reduced  to  idiocy,  and  left  to  stagger  in  de- 
spair, yields  herself  up  to  the  guidance  of  imaginary 
phantoms ;  conscience,  frantic  and  frightened  at  the 
wreck,  screams  where  she  should  be  silent,  and  only 
whispers  where  she  should  speak  in  tones  of  thun- 
der. 

There  can  be  no  doubt  that  true  religion  was  intend- 
ed, not  only  to  appeal  to  and  excite  all  the  various 
faculties  of  the  human  soul,  but  also  to  direct  and  con- 
trol their  action.  It  claims  rightful  authority  over  our 
entire  moral,  intellectual,  and  animal  nature.  But,  in 
order  to  achieve  this,  it  does,  and  must  necessarily  ad- 


MORBID    EMOTIONS.  251 

dress  itself  mainly,  not  to  the  imagination  or  the 
emotions,  but  to  the  powers  of  reason  and  con- 
science. 

Hence  its  natural  excitements  are  constant,  and 
comparatively  tranquil,  and  but  ill-adapted  to  satisfy 
the  eager  and  clamorous  desires  of  those  in  whom  the 
precocious  and  exorbitant  development  of  the  powers 
of  imagination  and  emotion  have  almost  annihilated 
even  the  existence  of  reason  and  conscience. 

This  unfortunate  multitude,  by  no  means  small  even 
in  a  Christian  land,  seem  fated  to  seek  nothing,  and  be 
satisfied  with  nothing,  either  in  religion  or  any  thing 
else,  that  does  not  keep  their  imaginations  ever  upon 
the  stretch,  and  their  emotions  ever  heaving  and  toss- 
ing, under  the  most  tumultuous  excitements.  They 
have  lived  among  air-castles  and  day-dreams  so  long, 
that  no  real  and  existing  good  can  either  satiate  their 
desires,  or  subdue  the  morbid  restlessness  of  their 
souls.  Reason,  to  them,  is  monotony  ;  quiet  is  death. 
They  must  have  a  faith  full  of  mysteries  and  marvels, 
at  once  enveloped  in  the  clouds,  and  irradiated  with 
rainbows.  A  faith  that  makes  its  simple  and  quiet  ap- 
peal to  reason  and  conscience,  that  sits  by  their  fire- 
sides and  gives  the  law  to  their  daily  life,  is  to  them 
worse  than  no  faith  at  all.  They  want  religious  ex- 
citement, and  they  will  have  it.  They  will  have  what 
they  call  the  comforts  of  religion,  whether  they  dis- 
charge any  of  its  duties  or  not. 

They  can  imagine  any  thing  they  please,  and  believe 
all  they  can  imagine.  They  deem  themselves  perfect, 
oftentimes,  just  in  proportion  as  they  become  insane. 
Some  of  them  are  famous  exhorters  in  church,  and  as 
famous  for  scolding  at  home.    Others  have  but  recently 


252  RESULTING    CREDULITY. 

surrendered  the  voluptuousness  of  sense,  for  the  volup- 
tuousness of  faith.  But  they  all  must  be  fanatics,  or 
at  least  enthusiasts,  or  they  can  be  nothing.  They 
must  either  live  amid  storms,  or  stagnate ;  and  the 
more  extraordinary  and  absurd  the  tenets  of  their  faith 
the  better,  because  the  more  marvellous  and  exciting. 
Mormonism  has  charms  for  all  such,  if  not  because  it 
is  more  gorgeous  and  imposing,  yet  at  least  because  it 
is  more  novel  and  sensual,  than  most  other  faiths. 

It  is  not  the  proper  place  to  inquire,  here,  how  far 
the  novel-reading  spirit  of  the  age  has  tended  to  pro- 
duce such  characters ;  nor  yet  how  far  the  pulpit  and 
the  press  have  been  perverted  to  humor  and  foster 
them.  That  they  exist,  and  that  they  are  all  on  their 
way  to  Nauvoo,  is  certain,  wherever  or  in  whatever 
relations  they  may  now  be  found. 

In  whatever  peculiar  way  the  instinct  of  faith,  in 
the  human  soul,  is  misdirected  or  perverted,  a  broad 
foundation  is  laid  for  the  most  unbounded  credulity:  ei- 
ther for  that  of  the  fanatic,  or  the  still  greater  credu- 
lity of  the  skeptic. 

When  the  mind  has  been  once  enslaved,  and  com- 
pelled to  plod  on  its  weary  and  inconstant  way,  be- 
neath the  burden  of  one  absurdity,  it  is  from  that 
hour  ready  to  take  up  another,  and  another,  till  it  final- 
ly sinks  beneath  the  incumbent  weight,  to  prattle,  in 
premature  dotage,  of  passing  wonders  and  coming  glo- 
ries ;  or,  in  the  desperation  of  returning  energy,  it 
throws  off,  at  once,  its  burden,  its  conscience,  and  its 
cares,  and  flies  for  refuge  to  the  haunts  of  practical 
atheism  and  sin.  Those  religious  teachers,  therefore, 
who  are  in  the  habit  of  making  enormous  draughts 
upon  the  credulity  of  their  hearers,  may  well  pause 


POPULAR    ERRORS-  253 

and  reflect,  before  they  proceed  further.  Men  would 
rarely  believe  too  little,  if  they  were  not  first  called 
upon  to  believe  too  much.  God  has  not  left  any  of  the 
essential  truths  of  religion  to  be  either  imagined  or  ra- 
tionally disputed.  He  has  placed  them  all  in  a  position 
to  be  demonstrated.  The  fundamental  truths  of  Chris- 
tianity are  no  more  probable  truths  than  those  of  as- 
tronomy. They  are  demonstrable ;  and  no  man  should 
call  on  his  fellows  to  embrace  by  faith  a  single  item  of 
religious  doctrine,  as  such,  until  he  can  first  furnish  the 
full  demonstration,  the  proof  of  its  truth,  either  from 
nature  or  the  word  of  God,  or  from  both.  Between 
our  belief  and  our  conjectures,  in  religion  as  elsewhere, 
there  should  be,  indeed,  an  adamantine  wall. 

Another  cause  of  the  rapid  spread  of  Mormonism  is 
the  prevalence  of  many  popular  errors,  engendered 
partly  by  tradition,  partly  through  the  scattered  anti- 
quated books  and  relics  of  devout  men,  and  sometimes, 
it  must  be  admitted,  through  the  pulpit  and  press  of 
our  own  times. 

1.  The  popular  impression,  as  regards  the  true  value 
of  human  opinion  and  human  testimony,  in  matters  of 
faith,  is  erroneous  and  absurd  to  an  almost  incredible 
extent.  The  Mormon  syllogism  grows  directly  out  of 
it.  "  If  we  have  received  one  revelation  through  the 
testimony  of  twelve  men,  of  a  remote  age,"  say  they, 
"  why  not  receive  another  on  the  testimony  of  a  like 
number  of  our  own  age  V  This  we  have  sufficiently 
noticed  in  a  previous  chapter. 

2.  False  impressions  respecting  the  nature  and  de- 
sign of  the  influences  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  constitute 
another   fertile    source   of  mischief  and    fanaticism. 


254  POPULAR  ERRORS. 

Their  influence  has  been  exerted  in  all  ages  of  the 
world  to  an  amazing  extent. 

I  wish  to  present  these  errors,  somewhat  at  length, 
in  three  several  points  of  view.  I  am  aware  that  the 
intelligent  reader  may  be  inclined,  at  first,  to  suppose 
that  I  am  remonstrating  against  errors  which  do  not 
and  cannot  exist  in  a  land  of  light  and  bibles.  But  a 
knowledge  of  the  daily  arrivals  at  Nauvoo,  from  all 
quarters  of  the  union,  and  an  acquaintance  with  their 
past  character  and  history,  would  convince  any  one 
that  there  is  need  of  remonstrance,  and  of  caution  too, 
on  this  point. 

Sound  philosophy,  no  less  than  divine  revelation, 
teaches  us,  that  whatever  of  moral  good  there  ever  was, 
or  ever  will  be,  in  our  world,  is  either  the  direct  or  in- 
direct result  of  the  teachings  of  the  Spirit  of  all  grace 
and  truth,  the  great  "Father  of  lights,  from  whom 
cometh  down  every  good  and  perfect  gift."  It  might 
naturally  be  expected,  therefore,  that  this  great  truth 
should  be  caricatured,  abused,  and  scandalized,  more 
than  almost  any  other,  not  only  by  its  enemies,  but  by 
its  professed  friends.  And  indeed  such  solemn  and 
momentous  sanctity  invests  the  original  truth  itself, 
from  its  own  nature,  that  men  are  wont  to  approach 
even  those  abuses  and  absurdities,  wThich  have  grown 
out  of  it,  with  a  sort  of  squeamish  reluctance  and  hor- 
ror, as  if  when  they  were  attacking  these  caricatures, 
they  were  fearful  of  sacrilegiously  assaulting  things 
divine.  But  whatever  may  be  the  experience  of  others, 
I  must  confess  I  feel  no  more  veneration  for  the  devil's 
religious  enterprises,  when  prosecuted  through  great 
truths  and  good  men,  than  when  he  employs  only  false- 
hood and  atheism.     The  truth  is,  however,  that  no  im- 


ST.  BERNARD.  255 

pulse  of  popular  sympathy,  no  transports  of  eloquence, 
no  ecstacies,  no  dreams  of  delirium,  no  convulsions, 
no  agitations,  no  paralysis  from  mere  exhaustion — in 
short,  no  form  of  madness,  hysterics,  or  folly,  has  been 
either  too  absurd,  or  too  contemptible,  to  be  set  down 
as  the  present  and  undoubted  effect  of  the  influences 
of  the  Holy  Spirit  of  truth  on  the  mind  of  man.  We 
will  consider  these  doctrines  and  their  phenomena  in 
three  points  of  view. 

1.  The  ordinary  effects  of  popular  eloquence  and 
sympathy,  as  ascribed  to  the  influence  of  the  Holy 
Spirit.  , 

2.  Bodily  agitations  or  sympathetic  convulsions,  as 
proceeding  from  the  same  source. 

3.  Internal  revelations,  raptures,  visions,  fyc. 

The  effects  of  the  preaching  of  St.  Bernard,  whose 
wild  and  passionate  eloquence  drove  the  millions  of 
Europe  to  the  field  of  slaughter,  exclaiming  as  they 
went,  "It  is  the  voice  of  God,"  may  be  set  down  among 
thousands  of  similar  cases,  as  an  example  under  the 
first  head.  Indeed  the  crusaders  seem  generally  to 
have  been  made  to  believe,  that  the  Spirit  of  God  was 
the  moving  power  which  urged  them  on,  instead  of  the 
prostituted  eloquence  of  their  misguided  or  artful  lead- 
ers. Nothing  is  more  common  in  the  history  of  the 
world,  than  to  find  men  setting  themselves  deliberately 
at  work  to  produce  a  given  state  of  excitement  in  the 
minds  of  their  auditors,  on  the  ordinary  principles  of 
sympathy  and  eloquence.  And  there  are  not  a  few 
who,  when  they  have  succeeded  in  producing  the  de- 
sired effect,  ascribe  the  results  of  their  labors  to  the 
direct  influences  of  the  Spirit  of  God.     Now  all  this 


256  LAND  PIRATE. 

may  be  honest  error,  or  simple  truth,  or  deliberate 
villany. 

Morel],  the  noted  land-pirate  of  the  south  and  west, 
was  in  the  habit  of  calling  the  people  together  and 
working  upon  their  sympathies,  and  concentrating  their 
attention  in  this  way,  at  professedly  religious  meetings, 
while  his  comrades  in  guilt  were  employed  in  stealing 
their  best  horses. 

But  suppose,  as  is  generally  at  least  the  fact,  that 
the  intention  is  good ;  suppose  that  no  vain  love  of  ex- 
citement, or  gain,  or  popularity,  or  vanity,  turns  the 
mind  from  a  state  of  candor  and  truth ;  suppose  our 
teaching  in  all  respects  pure  as  the  word  of  God  itself, 
can  we  ever  know  that  the  excitement  and  interest 
produced  in  the  minds  of  our  hearers,  is  the  result  of 
the  immediate  and  direct  influences  of  the  Spirit  of 
God  ?  Are  we  authorized  positively  to  assert,  that  it 
is  not  the  natural  result  of  God's  own  pure  and  most 
holy  truth,  thus  devoutly  and  appropriately  applied, 
and  that  this  is  not  the  sole  cause  of  the  phenomena  ? 
Must  we,  in  every  case,  resort  to  a  system  of  double 
causes  ?  Is  the  truth  of  God  when  thus  proclaimed 
mere  sound,  which  effects  nothing  and  can  effect  nothing 
in  and  of  itself?  Are  we  authorized  to  make  such 
positive  and  exclusive  declarations?  More  than  all, 
are  we  authorized  to  make  them  when  the  tide  of  popu- 
lar sympathy  runs  high  and  strong,  for  the  express  and 
only  purpose  of  making  it  run  higher  and  stronger  ? 

Again  ;  suppose  that  the  excitement  which  we  may 
have  succeeded  in  producing,  is  not  altogether  health- 
ful ;  suppose  we  have  commingled  error  with  truth, 
and  stirred  up  strange  fires  instead  of  the  flame  of  love ; 
suppose  that  the  excitement  is  on  the  whole  quite  ad- 


SKEPTICISM  AND  CREDULITY  THE  RESULT.  257 

verse  to  the  cause  of  Christ  and  of  truth,  but  still  God 
has  so  overruled  it  as  to  convert  some  souls,  and  so  as 
to  bring  some  good,  more  or  less,  out  of  the  general 
evil ;  is  God  therefore  directly  responsible  for  the  whole 
excitement,  and  are  we  authorized  to  announce  that  he 
is  ?  Is  it  safe  to  make  the  Holy  Spirit  of  God  respon- 
sible directly  for  all  the  excitements  of  passion,  sympa- 
thy, eloquence,  or  ignorance  which  men  raise,  or  can 
raise,  by  preaching  from  texts  out  of  the  Bible  ?  The 
freedom  with  which  events  of  this  sort  (which  may  be 
the  result  of  either  eloquence,  or  passion,  or  sympathy, 
or  vanity,  or  rivalry,  or  weakness,  or  ignorance)  are 
ascribed  to  the  Spirit  of  God,  tends  fearfully  to  two 
specific  results. 

First :  It  makes  utter  infidels  of  multitudes ;  they 
know  that  the  same  effects,  in  a  court  and  in  a  church, 
are  produced,  or  at  least  may  be  produced  by  the  same 
causes  ;  and  they  look  at  assertions  of  the  contrary  as 
so  many  pious  frauds. 

Second:  It  increases  the  credulity  of  other  multitudes, 
and  makes  them  the  ready  dupes  of  every  impostor  or 
fanatic  who  may  choose  to  play  upon  their  sympathies 
in  the  church,  and  claim  the  awful  sanctions  of  the 
Spirit  of  God.  "  You  are  excited,"  says  the  impostor; 
"the  Holy  Spirit  is  now  moving  upon  your  hearts." 
They  believe  it,  and  follow  him.  They  feel  that  it  is 
so  ;  that  is  to  say,  they  feel  something,  and  observe 
something  operating  upon  others,  and  they  trust  im- 
plicitly to  their  religious  guides  to  tell  them  what  it  is, 
and  how  produced. 

When  the  emissaries  of  Joe  Smith  or  any  other- 
fanatic  or  impostor  comes  along  with  things  still  more 
new  and  strange,  they  feel  that  .something  again,  per- 


258  SYMPATHETIC  CONVULSIONS. 

haps  in  a  still  higher  degree  !  They  have  been  taught 
to  believe  that  it  is  the  direct  influence  of  the  Spirit  of 
God  on  their  hearts.  They  are  now  told  the  same 
story.  They  believe  it,  and  are  gathered  with  their 
own  at  Nauvoo. 

Now  who  is  most  at  fault,  their  first  teacher  or  their 
last  ?  If  we  would  stop  the  streams,  must  we  not 
purify  or  destroy  the  fountain  of  error  ? 

2.  Bodily  agitations,  or  sympathetic  convulsions,  have 
been,  and  are  now,  to  an  immense  extent,  regarded  as 
the  most  undoubted  signs  of  the  presence  and  power  of 
the  Holy  Spirit.  Whether  this  error  is  imbibed  from 
tradition,  or  antiquated  books,  or  from  the  pulpit,  or  the 
press,  it  is  not  material  to  inquire.  The  extent  to 
which  it  actually  exists,  and  the  power  it  actually  ex- 
erts, may  be  learned  both  from  the  present  and  past 
history  of  the  Mormons. 

As  we  have  seen,  it  was  one  of  the  most  important 
elements  of  their  power  in  the  outset,  and  though  sub- 
sequent disorders  and  fear  of  rivalry  compelled  them 
to  rebuke  it  at  head-quarters,  it  is  still  one  of  the  most 
energetic  forces  in  recruiting  their  ranks.  It  is  one  of 
the  sectarian  chills  which  precedes  and  induces  the 
Mormon  fever.  Multitudes  are  now  in  the  chill  ;  other 
multitudes  still  are  strongly  predisposed  to  it.  "  What !" 
say  they,  "  if  you  attribute  the  ordinary  excitements 
of  popular  sympathy  to  purely  natural  causes,  you 
surely  will  allow  that  trances,  convulsions,  &c,  demon- 
strate the  presence  of  the  power  of  God." 

I  know  of  no  other  way  of  annihilating  this  fond 
confidence,  than  by  exhibiting  the  facts  and  phenomena 
in  question,  as  they  have  actually  occurred  in  the 
world,  and  leaving  them  to  explain  themselves.     For, 


SYMPATHETIC    CONVULSIONS.  259 

in  this  case  at  least,  nothing  but  ignorance  is  the  mother 
of  devotion  ;  and  when  the  ignorance  is  removed,  the 
credulity  and  the  devotion,  if  it  may  be  called  so,  will 
both  die  a  natural  death. 

It  is  well  known  that  any  strong  and  violent  passion, 
as  anger,  fear,  hope,  joy,  &c,  however  excited,  will 
produce  not  only  convulsions,  trances,  &c,  but  even 
sudden  death.  Occurrences  of  the  latter  kind  are  not 
unfrequent.  But  the  history  of  the  world  is  full  of  in- 
stances in  which  convulsive  diseases,  excited  by  terror, 
fear,  sympathy,  enthusiasm,  or  exhaustion,  have  spread 
by  a  soiH  of  contagion,  through  whole  communities. 
This  disease  has  sometimes  been  called  "  chorea  sancti 
vite,"  and  also  more  appropriately  "sympathetic"  or 
"epidemic  convulsions." 

In  A.  D.  1021,  we  find  the  first  authentic  notice  of 
these  convulsions.  They  appeared  at  the  monastery 
at  Kobbeg,  in  Germany.  Eighteen  countrymen  ap- 
peared in  the  churchyard  on  Christmas  eve,  and  by 
boisterous  and  improper  conduct,  disturbed  the  divine 
service  then  in  progress.  The  priest,  offended  at  their 
rudeness,  uttered  his  fearful  imprecations  and  anathe- 
mas against  them,  which  at  once  threw  these  supersti- 
tious and  benighted  wretches  into  the  most  direful  con- 
vulsions and  spasms.  They  were  for  some  time  unable 
to  eat,  drink,  or  sleep,  until  the  intercession  of  the 
bishop  dispelled  their  fears  and  again  restored  quiet  to 
their  minds  and  bodies.  They  then  all  slept  soundly 
for  three  days.  Four  of  them  died  of  the  disease,  and 
the  others  were  affected  with  nervous  tremblings  for 
life. 

In  A.  D.  1237,  another  case  is  recorded,  in  which  one 
hundred  children  in  Erfurt,  Germany,  were  suddenly 


260  SYMPATHETIC    CONVULSIONS. 

seized  with  a  similar  convulsive  disease,  and  many  of 
them  died. 

In  A.  D.  1278,  in  Utrecht,  Germany,  about  two  hun- 
dred persons,  being  seized  with  this  disease,  sallied  out, 
leaping  and  dancing,  and  collected  upon  a  neighboring 
bridge,  which  ultimately  broke  down  under  the  pressure 
of  their  weight,  and  all  were  drowned.  The  people 
and  priests  supposed  that  they  were  possessed  of  the 
devil,  and  presented  them  with  the  holy  sacrament,  for 
the  purpose  of  exorcism,  just  before  the  bridge  fell. 
One  of  them  treated  this  effort  for  their  rescue  from  the 
devil  with  contempt,  and  the  priest  accordingly  attrib- 
uted the  fall  of  the  bridge  to  the  Divine  vengeance. 

At  an  early  age,  at  least  before  the  fourth  century, 
the  Roman  church  had  introduced  some  of  the  pagan 
and  bacchanalian  revels  of  the  Greeks  into  their  wonted 
celebration  of  the  day  of  St.  John  the  Baptist. 

In  Germany,  on  the  evening  of  that  day,  they  were, 
in  later  times,  in  the  habit  of  building  a  bonfire,  around 
which  the  devotees  danced  and  leaped,  in  full  belief 
that  through  the  prayers  of  the  patron  saint,  all  diseases 
for  the  coming  year  would  be  averted  by  that  antic 
solemnity.  On  the  first  of  July,  1374,  these  exhausted 
devotees  were  seized,  in  great  numbers,  by  these  gro- 
tesque and  frightful  convulsions,  which  from  that  cir- 
cumstance have  been  called  St.  John's  dance.  A  sim- 
ilar event  is  also  said  to  have  happened  at  the  celebra- 
tion of  St.  Vitus.  It  is  from  this  occurrence,  that  the 
same  disease  has  been  called  St.  Vitus'  dance. 

In  1347,  nearly  one  fourth  of  all  Europe  died  of  the 
black-death,  a  most  hideous  and  direful  plague,  and  ere 
they  had  recovered  from  these  unwonted  terrors,  these 
horrid  convulsions  appeared  and  prevailed,  to  the  aston- 


CONVULSIONS    IN    GERMANY.  261 

ishment  of  the  age,  for  more  than  two  hundred  years. 
The  disease  spread  over  all  Germany,  and  the  neigh- 
boring provinces  on  the  north. 

It  first  commenced  in  the  town  of  Aachen.  Some 
few  were  taken  with  strong  convulsions  in  their  limbs, 
impelling  them  to  dance  and  leap,  screaming  and  foam- 
ing in  wild  whirls,  for  hours  together  ;  until  exhausted 
by  all  imaginable  sorts  of  grimaces  and  contortions, 
they  fell  foaming  and  shrieking  in  great  agony  upon  the 
ground.  Then  they  saw  apparitions,  visions,  sights, 
and  wonders  ;  ghosts  floating  on  streams  of  blood, 
heaven  opened,  the  Saviour  enthroned  "  by  the  mother 
of  God,"  and  other  things  accordant  with  the  supersti- 
tions of  the  age.  The  people  ran  in  crowds  to  behold 
the  hideous  spectacle,  and  from  beholding  to  catch  and 
exhibit  the  disease  in  their  turn.  The  multitude  of  the 
possessed,  as  they  were  called,  daily  increased,  until  it 
spread  throughout  all  the  provinces.  In  some  single 
villages  from  five  hundred  to  one  thousand  persons 
were  possessed  of  the  devil,  as  was  supposed.  They 
thronged  around  the  churches.  The  priests  resorted 
to  exorcism  in  vain.  Religious  processions  were  ap- 
pointed ;  the  Scriptures  read ;  masses  said,  and  songs 
sung  to  exorcise  these  supposed  demoniacs,  but  all  in 
vain.  It  was  subsequently  discovered  that  nothing 
could  relieve  them  but  to  gird  them  round  the  waist,  or 
beat  them  with  incredible  violence  on  the  stomach  after 
they  fell.  This,  by  removing  their  flatulence  and  ri- 
gidity, gave  many  relief. 

About  forty-four  years  after  this,  in  1418,  the  disease 
appeared  again  in  Strasburg,  and  spread  in  the  same 
way.  Swarms  of  dancers  paraded  the  streets,  followed 
by  another  curious  multitude,  soon  to  shudder,  leap,  and 


262  CONVULSIONS    IN    ITALY. 

dance  in  their  turn.  The  civil  authorities  in  this  case 
interposed  to  arrest  the  sympathy  and  contagion  of  the 
disease  by  secluding  from  public  view  all  those  affected 
by  it.  Their  success  was  gratifying,  though  not  in  all 
cases  complete.  In  the  sixteenth  century,  the  famous 
Paracelsus  took  the  disease  out  of  the  hands  of  the 
priest,  and  committed  it  to  the  hands  of  the  quack. 
He  ordered  his  patients  to  make  an  image  of  themselves 
of  wax,  to  sit  down  and  look  at  it,  with  the  utmost  in- 
tensity, and  will  all  their  sins  and  curses  into  it,  and 
then  burn  both  together  in  the  fire.  This  proved  effec- 
tual only  where  the  disease  depended  solely  on  the 
power  of  the  imagination  over  the  body  ;  in  other 
cases  other  remedies  were  prescribed. 

In  1430,  a  similar  dancing  mania  prevailed  in  Italy, 
called  at  the  time  terantismus,  from  the  popular  impres- 
sion that  it  came  from  the  bite  of  an  insect  or  spider  of 
similar  name,  Tarantula.  The  people  in  this  case 
seemed  to  fall,  all  at  once,  into  a  state  of  insensibility,  and, 
finally,  many  of  them  died.  Nothing  could  arouse  them 
but  the  sound  of  musical  instruments. 

The  imaginary  terror  spread  from  village  to  village, 
and  every  bite  or  scratch,  from  whatever  cause,  was 
attributed  to  the  terrible,  mysterious,  and  unknown  in- 
sect. Their  fears  overpowered  them,  and  they  fell, 
either  to  rise  no  more  or  to  wake  by  the  potent  charms 
of  music.  All  Italy  resounded  with  the  dinging  of 
drums,  and  the  screeching  of  fifes  and  flutes.  The  terror- 
stricken  sufferers  leaped  upon  their  feet  at  the  sound, 
and  threw  off  their  disease  and  their  fears  in  violent 
and  convulsive  dances. 

This  panic  of  the  poison-spider  is  said  to  have  spread 
into   distant  Asia.     During   the  prevalence   of  these 


TIGRETIA  OF  ABYSSINIA.  263 

alarming  nervous  epidemics,  amid  the  general  gloom  of 
superstition  which  overhung  the  minds  of  all,  many 
frightful  plagues  had  scourged  all  Europe,  and  espe- 
cially Italy,  in  rapid  succession.  The  black-death,  as 
we  have  seen,  swept  its  millions  from  Germany  just 
before  the  nervous  epidemic  in  that  country,  and  from 
1119  to  1340,  the  people  had  felt  the  ravages  of  the 
stone  plague  no  less  than  sixteen  times.  Their  bodies 
had  become  exhausted,  and  their  minds  enfeebled,  by 
the  universal  superstition  and  terror  which  everywhere 
hung  around  them.  An  epidemic,  called  the  Tigretia, 
similar  to  that  in  Italy,  prevailed  in  Abyssinia,  as  re- 
lated by  Nathaniel  Pierce,  in  1810.  The  patient  was 
first  seized  with  a  fever,  and  succeeding  stupor,  which 
often  continued  for  months,  and  wasted  them  to  mere 
skeletons. 

The  most  certain  remedy  here  was  the  martial  music 
of  drums  and  fifes,  at  the  sound  of  which  the  skeleton 
patient  would  arouse, then  sit  up,  then  stand, and  finally, 
as  the  music  grew  more  and  more  brisk,  leap  and  dance 
on  the  floor  for  hours  together.  If  the  music  ceased 
before  they  were  fully  restored  to  their  natural  activity, 
they  relapsed  into  stupor  again.  This  sometimes  re- 
quired days,  and  often  even  then  failed,  and  the  patient 
died.  They  were,  however,  sometimes  cured  by  the 
reading  of  a  portion  of  St.  John's  gospel  over  them.*' 

After  the  repeal  of  the  edict  of  Nantes,  in  1685,  the 
protestants  in  the  south  of  France  were  subjected  to 
the  most  violent  persecutions.  Their  children  were  torn 
from  them,  the  men  sent  to  the  galleys,  women  impris- 
oned, and  priests  hanged.     Exhausted  with  irritation, 

*  See  Hecker's  Epidemics  of  the  Middle  Ages 


264         TREMBLERS  OP  CEVENNES,  AND  CAMISARDS. 

persecution,  and  terror,  many  of  them  were  seized  with 
tremblings  and  convulsions,  while  they  preached  and 
prophesied  the  triumphs  of  their  holy  cause.  Multi- 
tudes came  to  see  and  hear,  who  soon,  in  turn,  like  the 
German  dancers,  were  seen  to  tremble,  preach,  and 
prophesy.  In  their  secret  meetings,  surrounded  on  all 
hands  by  the  terrors  of  persecution,  and  the  still  more 
dreadful  terrors  of  credulity  and  imagination,  some 
one  would  be  seized  with  the  holy  spirit,  as  they  called 
it,  fall  convulsing,  and,  after  trembling  for  a  while, 
would  rise  and  prophesy.  Then  another  would  be 
taken,  and  another,  and  sometimes  two  or  three  would 
be  found  preaching  at  the  same  time.  Children,  of  not 
more  than  three  or  four  years  of  age,  were  thus  seized ; 
and  even  idiots,  when  thus  inspired,  seemed  gifted  with 
unwonted  ability.  The  tremblers  were  heard  with  pro- 
found attention  by  the  multitude,  who  believed  them 
inspired  of  the  Holy  Spirit. 

It  is  needless  to  say  that  their  prophecies  failed,  and 
the  peculiarities  of  their  sect  have  all  ceased,  as  we 
hope,  forever. 

The  Camisards,  or  French  prophets,  of  Viverais,  al- 
ready mentioned,  arose  about  this  time,  and  from  similar 
causes  of  fear  and  hope. 

The  convulsions  of  St.Medarwere  results  of  a  strange 
and  fanatical  epidemic,  which  occurred  around  the  tomb 
of  the  Abbe  de  Paris,  in  the  monastery  of  St.  Medaro,  near 
Paris,  about  the  year  1727,  and  continued  for  ten  or 
twelve  years.  This  fanatic  was  revered  for  his  piety 
and  powers  of  healing,  in  his  life ;  and  during  the  trials 
and  persecutions  which  befell  the  appellant  Jansenists 
heretics,  after  his  death,  numbers  resorted  to  his  tomb 
for  devotion  and  health.    Some  were  of  course  miracu- 


CONVULSIONS  OF  ST.  MENARD.  265 

lously  healed  ;  the  fame  of  the  miracle  was  noised 
abroad,  greater  multitudes  thronged  around.  Some 
women  believed  that  God  had  now  appeared  in  behalf 
of  their  righteous  cause,  against  their  cruel  persecutors, 
and  so  fell  into  convulsions. 

The  contagion  spread,  and  cures  and  convulsions 
abounded.  All  Paris  flowed  towards  the  favored 
church,  to  hear,  see,  be  convulsed,  and  cured,  at  one 
and  the  same  time.  Handful s  of  sacred  earth  were 
gathered,  and  sent  to  bear  commingled  health  and  con- 
vulsions to  patients  abroad,  and  thus  the  disease  spread 
far  and*  wide.  As  many  as  eight  hundred  convulsion- 
aries  were  sometimes  seized  at  once.  They  attributed 
their  affection  and  cure  to  the  spirit  and  power  of  their 
guardian  angel.  Even  their  skeptical  persecutors  could 
neither  account  for  nor  deny  the  reality  of  the  spasms 
and  cures.  The  edict  and  guard  of  the  king  finally 
closed  the  access  to  the  tomb,  but  still  this  epidemic  of 
commingled  fear,  hope,  and  credulity,  did  not  cease 
from  among  the  French  entirely,  until  the  revolution  of 
1790,  though  its  virulence  was  somewhat  abated  in  a 
few  years.  When  this  disease  was  at  its  height,  many 
of  the  convulsionaries,  amid  cries,  shouts,  and  howl- 
ings,  fell  down  writhing  in  the  greatest  agony.  Their 
dreadful  pangs  could  be  relieved  only  by  immense  pres- 
sure, or  incredible  blows  on  the  stomach.  To  this  end, 
they  were  laid  on  a  plank,  and  another  plank  was  placed 
upon  them,  and  their  friends  mounted  the  plank,  and 
pressed  it  down  with  their  weight.  It  is  said  that  they 
have  been  known  to  support  twenty  men,  without  pain 
or  injury,  before  their  spasms  would  relax.  At  other 
times,  the  stoutest  men  were  selected  to  beat  them  upon 
the  pit  of  the  stomach,  with  severe  blows  from  heavy 

12 


266  ANIMAL  MAGNETISM. 

stones,  mauls,  &c. ;  the  sufferers  crying  to  them  to  strike 
harder,  when  it  seemed  as  though  their  whole  bodies 
would  be  crushed  and  annihilated  by  the  terrible  strokes. 
When  the  blows  became  sufficiently  severe  to  relax 
the  spasms,  they  became  relieved  from  their  sufferings. 
These  accounts  seem  incredible,  and  would  be  so,  in 
fact,  were  they  not  attested  by  most  unexceptionable 
witnesses,  and  did  they  not  fall  in  with  a  constantly  oc- 
curring series  of  well-known  phenomena  of  a  similar 
kind.  However,  the  disease  was  unquestionable,  what- 
ever we  may  say  of  the  cure. 

Immediately  after  the  convulsioners  of  St.  Medaro, 
followed  the  discovery  of  the  wonderful  powers  of  ani- 
mal magnetism,  by  M.  Mesmer,  of  Paris. 

With  this  he  supposed  that  he  could  cure  all  diseases, 
discover  and  remove  their  latent  causes,  &c.  He  sup- 
posed that  his  magnetism  was  some  subtle  fluid,  uni- 
versally diffused,  which  affected  the  mind  and  body 
somewhat  like  electricity.  The  ceremony  of  magne- 
tizing was  performed  in  a  large  room  full  of  spectators. 
A  throng  of  subjects  was  gathered  round  a  mystic 
tub,  called  the  banquet.  They  were  connected  together 
by  a  cord  passing  from  subject  to  subject,  and  by  a 
peculiar  union  of  hands,  or  thumbs,  while  the  operator 
transmitted  the  unknown  influence  from  the  banquet, 
by  swinging  his  enchanted  rods  of  iron  about  their 
heads  and  faces,  with  peculiar  and  majestic  solemnity. 
The  ravishing  and  changing  airs  of  the  pianoforte, 
placed  in  the  background,  contributed  to  the  desired 
result.  Amid  this  paraphernalia  of  credulity  and 
quackery,  the  patients  stood  in  silence  for  one  or  two 
hours.    Some  experienced  no  effect ;  others  were  taken 


ANIMAL    MAGNETISM.  267 

at  length  with  coughing  and  spitting,  others  with  slight 
pains,  and  heats,  and  copious  perspirations. 

Others  still  fell  into  what  was  called  the  crisis,  and 
were  agitated  and  tortured  with  the  most  violent  con- 
vulsions. In  some  instances,  these  convulsions  con- 
tinued for  two  "or  three  hours,  accompanied  with  hide- 
ous contortions  of  the  limbs  and  body,  spasms  of  the 
throat,  ejection  of  blood  and  phlegm,  wandering  and 
rolling  of  the  eyes,  alternate  laughing,  weeping,  shriek- 
ing, &c.  They  finally  fell  into  a  state  of  partial  or 
entire  insensibility,  apparently  unconscious  of  all  else, 
save  the  change  of  the  musical  sounds  and  the  potent 
voice  or  sign  of  the  magnetizer,  whose  wink  or  look 
alone  seemed  sufficient  to  rouse  them  from  their  stupor. 
These  facts  were  all  witnessed  and  attested  by  four 
gentlemen,  of  the  greatest  celebrity  in  science,  appoint- 
ed for  this  purpose  by  the  French  king,  in  1784;  and 
a  report  of  the  committee  was  also  made  out,  which 
still  can  be  resorted  to  as  authority  on  this  subject. 
One  member  of  this  committee  was  the  distinguished 
Dr.  Franklin,  the  then  American  minister  at  Paris. 
The  committee  first  remarked,  that  many  ivomen  were 
affected,  and  but  few  men ;  also  that  when  one  was 
affected,  others  soon  followed. 

They  resolved,  therefore,  first  to  subject  themselves 
to  the  operator  in  person,  which  they  did  through  three 
successive  days,  for  two  hours  and  a  half,  without  any 
effect. 

They  next  proposed  to  experiment  upon  those  of 
feeble  health,  away  from  the  excitement  of  the  public 
crowd.  Of  fourteen  subjects,  only  three,  and  those 
from  the  lower  classes,  experienced  any  decided  effects. 
At  length  a  servant  woman  was  magnetized,  and  ap- 


268  POORIIOUSE  IN  HARLEM. 

peared  so  peculiarly  sensitive  to  the  influence,  that  she 
could  trace  the  movement  of  M.  Jumelin's  fingers  by 
the  heat  which  followed  in  certain  parts  of  her  body. 
If  he  pointed  at  certain  parts,  she  soon  swooned.  They 
then  bandaged  her  eyes,  and  made  her  believe  she  was 
magnetized  when  she  was  not,  and  the  same  results 
followed.  Again  M.  Jumelin  magnetized  her  without 
her  seeing  him,  and  no  effects  were  produced.  Others 
again  were  blinded  and  treated  in  a  similar  manner, 
and  when  they  believed  they  were  magnetized  they  felt 
the  effects  whether  they  were  or  not ;  and,  vice  versa, 
when  they  believed  that  they  were  not  magnetized  they 
felt  no  effects,  even  though  the  operator,  during  the 
whole  time,  was  exerting  his  utmost  power.  These 
experiments  convinced  all  Europe,  for  the  time,  that 
these  convulsions  arose  solely  from  the  combined  pow- 
er of  belief  and  imagination,  and  the  spell  of  Mesmer 
was  broken. 

Many  instances  of  the  infectious  nature  of  convulsive 
diseases,  or  rather  their  propagation  by  sympathetic 
imitation,  and  of  the  surprising  effect  of  imaginary 
remedies  in  removing  them,  as  well  as  of  imaginary 
causes  in  producing  them,  have  been  recorded  by  the 
most  eminent  philosophers,  divines,  and  physicians. 

The  learned  Boerhaave,  who  died  in  Holland  in  the 
year  1737,  was  previously  called  to  administer  to  a 
series  of  convulsions,  propagated  from  one  to  another 
by  sight,  in  the  poorhouse  at  Harlsem. 

A  young  girl,  under  impressions  of  great  terror,  was 
first  seized  with  convulsive  paroxysms.  Her  friends, 
in  attempting  to  restrain  her,  were  soon  seized  in  like 
manner,  and  thus  one  after  another  fell  under  its  influ- 
ence simply  from  seeing  the  paroxysms  of  their  young 


CONVULSIONS  OP  ANGLESEA  AND  UNST.  269 

friends,  until  almost  all  the  boys  and  girls  were  terribly- 
afflicted  by  regularly  returning  paroxysms  of  this  dis- 
ease. No  sooner  was  one  of  the  number  seized  with 
the  paroxysms,  than  all  the  others  in  sight  followed  on 
in  like  manner.  The  skill  of  the  attending  physicians 
was  entirely  baffled.  They  sent  for  Boerhaave.  He 
perceived  that  the  origin  and  propagation  of  the  dis- 
ease depended  on  the  imagination  and  sympathetic  imi- 
tation. He  therefore  addressed  himself  to  the  mind, 
for  a  remedy. 

He  filled  the  various  apartments  with  furnaces,  con- 
taining burning  coal,  and  red-hot  irons  curiously  bent 
and  wrought.  He  then,  with  due  gravity  and  solem- 
nity, announced  to  the  assembled  children  that  all  medi- 
cine must  be  laid  entirely  aside,  since  the  only  remedy 
he  knew  of  was  to  seize  the  first  one  afflicted  with  a 
paroxysm,  and  burn  his  arm  with  a  red-hot  iron  to  the 
bone. 

Terrified  at  the  thought  of  this  dreadful  remedy, 
their  fears  of  convulsions  gave  place  to  a  more  saluta- 
ry fear  of  the  irons,  and  thus  by  diverting  their  minds 
and  reanimating  their  fortitude  to  resistance,  as  they 
felt  the  spasms  approaching,  the  convulsions  were  cured 
and  the  disease  disappeared. 

In  1796,  Dr.  Heygarth  mentions  another  case  of 
convulsions  propagated  by  the  influence  of  terror  and 
sympathy,  from  one  female  tenant  on  the  island  of  An- 
glesea  to  twenty-three  others,  all  between  the  ages  of 
10  *<td  25  years,  and  all  females,  except  one  boy  of 
seventeen. 

In  1774,  the  Rev.  Wm.  Archibald  describes  another 
case  of  convulsions,  prevailing  through  a  number  of 
years,  propagated  in  the  same  way,  in  his  parish  in 


270 

Unst,  one  of  the  Shetland  Isles.  One  female  was  at 
first  taken  at  home.  After  a  time  she  happened  to  fall 
into  a  paroxysm  in  church,  and  then,  by  the  combined 
influence  of  fear  and  sympathy,  the  disease  soon  spread, 
to  the  great  alarm  of  spectators  and  friends. 

In  another  parish  of  Delting,  numbers  were  seized, 
especially  when  the  church  was  crowded,  or  any  un- 
usual excitement  prevailed.  Fifty  or  sixty  were  some- 
times carried  out  of  the  house  at  one  single  communion 
season,  when  they  struggled  and  raved  with  all  their 
strength.  They  were  first  seized  with  a  degree  of 
faintness — then  followed  wild  and  frantic  cries  and 
shrieks,  at  the  sound  of  which  all  who  were  subject  to 
this  disorder  fell  into  similar  paroxysms. 

In  these  northern  isles,  divine  service  was  sometimes 
wholly  interrupted  by  these  convulsions,  notwithstand- 
ing no  one  ever  supposed  them  in  any  way  connected 
with  religion,  and  the  clergy  used  all  possible  precau- 
tions to  prevent  their  occurrence,  instead  of  exciting 
and  encouraging  them  by  tumultuous  and  fanatical 
harangues. 

One  woman  in  Northaven  was  effectually  cured  of 
her  convulsions  by  the  kirk  officer,  who  caught  her  up 
while  in  one  of  her  spasms,  and  threw  her  into  a  neigh- 
boring pool.  She  never  had  another.  Others  feared 
the  same  treatment,  and  like  the  children  at  Harlsem, 
repressed  their  agitations  by  aid  of  the  more  powerful 
apprehension  of  the  pool. 

These  cases  are  similar  to  that  of  a  man  in  Clfelms- 
ford,  Massachusetts,  who  had  a  child  affected  with  con- 
vulsive chorea.  The  remaining  five  children  began  to 
imitate  their  playmate  in  sport,  and  thus  caught  the 
disease   themselves.     At   length   the   afflicted   father 


MEETING    AT    EVERTON.  271 

brought  in  a  block  and  axe,  and  solemnly  threatened 
to  take  off  the  head  of  the  first  one  who  should  be  con- 
vulsed, except  the  one  who  was  first  taken.  This,  like 
the  hot  irons,  or  the  kirk  officer's  pool,  broke  the  spell, 
and  the  five  children  were  cured. 

In  the  Gentleman's  Magazine  of  1787,  it  is  reported 
that  in  an  English  factory,  containing  about  three  hun- 
dred hands,  a  girl  mischievously  introduced  a  mouse 
into  the  bosom  of  another,  who  fell  into  convulsions 
which  lasted  for  about  twenty-four  hours,  without  ces- 
sation. *  On  the  following  day,  others  were  seized,  and 
on  the  fourth  day  their  number  amounted  to  twenty- 
four,  and  probably  the  disease  would  have  gone 
through  the  establishment,  had  it  not  fortunately  been 
arrested  by  means  of  electricity.* 

We  are  told  that  at  a  religious  meeting  held  at  Ever- 
ton,  in  1759,  there  were  "  faintings,"  "  crying  out"  with 
the  greatest  violence  for  hours,  "  weeping  aloud,"  "vio- 
lent contortionswof  the  body,"  "loud  breathing,  like  that 
of  people  half  strangled  and  gasping  for  life,"  "cries,  like 
those  of  one  dying  in  bitter  anguish,"  "  dropping,  with 
violence  inconceivable,  which  shook  the  house,"  "stamp- 
ing with  the  feet,  as  if  trying  to  burst  the  floor  through," 
"lying  on  the  floor,  as  if  dead,  for  hours,"  "  falling  back- 
wards and  forwards,  wringing  hands,  and  roaring  like 
bulls,"  with  faces  sometimes  red  as  scarlet,  and  at 
others  almost  black.  The  violent  struggles  broke  the 
benches  and  pews  in  the  church,  while  some  unaffected 
in  the  house,  before  they  reached  home  dropped  down 
in  the  road,  as  if  dead.  It  is  remarked  "  that  few  old 
people  experienced  any  thing  of  this  work  of  God,"  and 

*  Upham's  Ment.  Philos.,  vol.  II.  388. 


272  KENTUCKY    REVIVAL. 

scarcely  any  rich  people.  They  either  showed  an  en- 
tire contempt  of,  or  an  enmity  to  it. 

In  1742,  at  Cambuslang,  Scotland,  after  preaching 
for  most  of  the  year  on  regeneration,  the  minister,  Rev. 
Mr.  McCulloch,  increased  the  frequency  of  his  labors, 
during  the  winter  and  spring,  and  finally  ended  them 
in  a  series  of  daily  meetings  in  the  open  air,  during  the 
month  of  August,  when  upwards  of  thirty  thousand 
persons  assembled,  and  listened  to  from  four  to  fifteen 
sermons  per  diem,  for  several  days,  from  Whitfield  and 
several  other  eminent  clergyman. 

At  these  meetings  similar  scenes  occurred,  and  were 
attributed  by  many  to  the  direct  agency  of  the  Holy 
Spirit.  There  were  many  conversions  ;  but  before  ten 
years  had  elapsed,  the  devoted  Mr.  McCulloch  had 
painful  cause  to  bewail,  in  a  letter  to  a  friend,  the  many 
backslidings  that  had  occurred. 

Dr.  Edwards,  in  this  country,  gave  the  influence  of 
his  great  name  to  sanction  and  sustain,  the  popular  im- 
pression, that  such  agitations  are  the  immediate  effects 
of  the  Spirit  of  God  on  the  mind. 

In  the  year  1800,  the  great  revival  in  Kentucky,  as 
it  is  called,  commenced.  The  people  were  accustomed 
to  assemble,  sometimes  to  the  number  of  ten  or  twelve 
thousand,  and  they  often  continued  together,  in  devo- 
tional exercises,  for  several  days  and  nights.  Here  the 
people  were  sometimes  seized  with  general  tremor,  the 
pulse  grew  weaker,  their  breathing  difficult,  and,  at 
long  intervals,  their  hands  and  feet  became  cold,  and 
finally  they  fell,  and  both  pulse  and  breath,  and  all 
symptoms  of  life  forsook  them  for  nearly  an  hour,  dur- 
ing which  time  they  suffered  no  pain,  and  were  perfectly 


KENTUCKY    REVIVAL.  273 

conscious  of  their  condition,  and  knew  what  was  pass- 
ing around  them. 

At  one  time,  during  service,  several  shrieks  were  ut- 
tered, and  people  fell  in  all  directions.  Not  less  than 
one  thousand  fell  at  one  meeting.  Their  outward  ex- 
pressions of  devotion  consisted  in  alternate  singing, 
crying,  laughing,  shouting,  and  every  variety  of  vio- 
lent motion,  of  which  the  muscular  system  is  capable. 
These  violent  motions  they  soon  became  unable  to  re- 
sist. They  were  violently  thrown  upon  the  ground  by 
the  convulsions,  where  their  "  motions  resembled  those 
of  a  fish  upon  land."  This  disease  lasted  through  sev- 
eral years,  in  some  cases,  and  propagated  itself  by 
sympathetic  imitation,  from  one  to  another,  with 
astonishing  rapidity,  in  crowds,  and  often  in  small  as- 
semblies. Their  convulsions  were  ultimately  distin- 
guished by  the  several  names  of  "  the  rolling  exercise," 
"  the  jerks,"  and  "  the  barks." 

The  rolling  exercise,  consisted  in  doubling  the  head 
and  feet  together,  and  rolling  over  and  over  like  a 
trundling  hoop  or  wheel,  or  in  stretching  themselves 
horizontally  and  rolling  swiftly  over  and  over,  like  a 
dog,  sopping  through  mud  and  mire  as  they  went. 

The  jerks,  consisted  in  violent  twitches  and  contor- 
tions of  the  body  in  all  its  parts,  as  if  goaded  on  all 
sides  by  a  red-hot  iron.  Sometimes  the  head  would 
♦fly  round  half  way,  and  back  and  forth,  until  not  a  fea- 
ture could  be  recognised,  and  the  hair  of  the  females 
would  snap  like  a  horsewhip;  and  some  were  ultimately 
obliged  to  shave  their  heads.  When  attacked  by  the 
jerks,  they  sometimes  ran  and  leaped  about,  bolting  like 
frogs,  and  exhibiting  all  manner  of  grotesque  and  hid- 
eous contortions  and  twitches  of  the  face  and  limbs. 

12* 


274  MORMON  CONVULSIONS. 

The  barks,  consisted  in  getting  down  on  all*fours, 
growling,  snapping  the  teeth,  and  barking  like  dogs. 
Sometimes  they  squatted  upon  their  hams,  like  a  dog, 
and  looked  up  at  the  face  of  the  minister,  and  continued 
demurely  and  quietly  barking  at  him  while  he  preached 
to  them.  These  last  were  peculiarly  gifted  in  prophe- 
cies, trances,  dreams,  visions,  rhapsodies,  sights  of  spir- 
its, of  angels,  of  heaven,  the  holy  city,  angelic  hosts,  &c. 

It  was  remarked  that  these  affections  would  seize 
upon  both  sexes  and  all  constitutions  alike ;  but  it  most 
readily  attacked  the  young  enthusiasts  upon  the  subject 
of  religion.  It  rarely  seized  upon  those  of  the  most 
consistent  and  exemplary  piety,  but  upon  almost  all  luke- 
warm and  lazy  professors.  The  wicked  also  feared  it, 
and  were  subject  to  it.  Those,  especially,  who  came 
to  persecute,  or  to  mock,  wTould  even  curse,  and  swear, 
and  damn  the  exercises,  while  jerking.  But  naturalists, 
who  desired  to  get  the  disease  for  the  sake  of  philoso- 
phizing upon  it,  were  never  convulsed. 

An  account  of  a  similar  wonderful  phenomenon 
among  the  Mormons,  at  Kirtland,  Ohio,  has  already 
been  given  in  the  chapter  on  the  history  of  Mormonism, 
which  the  reader  is  requested  to  refer  to,  that  he  may 
give  the  Mormons  their  due  share  of  glory  in  these 
wonderful  manifestations  of  Divine  favor.  * 

These  are  among  the  most  important  authenticated 
facts  pertaining  to  the  history  of  these  sympathetic^ 
convulsions,  and  their  attendant  trances  and  visions. 
"We  perceive  that  the  same  nervous  phenomena  are 
attributed,  at  one  time  in  Germany,  to  the  devil;  in 
France,  to  the  sainted  spirit  of  Deacon  Paris,  and  then 

*  See  Chap.  I.  page  28. 


PHILOSOPHY  OF  THE  PHENOMENA.  275 

again  to  Animal  Magnetism;  in  Italy,  to  a  spider;  in 
England,  to  a  mouse;  and  at  Everton,  Cambuslang, 
Tennessee,  and  Kirtland,  Ohio,  to  the  Holy  Spirit.  It 
would  seem  that  some  of  these  opinions  must  be  wrong. 
We  are  inclined  to  think  that  the  wonderful  spasms, 
visions,  trances,  &c,  experienced  by  Sidney  Rigdon 
and  Company,  in  Ohio,  are  no  more  proof  of  the  divine 
authority  of  their  doctrine,  or  their  leader,  than  are  the 
same  phenomena,  in  Germany,  of  the  divinity  of  the 
devil ;  in  Italy,  that  of  a  spider ;  and  in  England,  that 
of  a  n>ouse. 

It  is  plain  that  these  phenomena  have  occurred  more 
frequently  where  numbers  became  excited  and  alarm- 
ed, without  any  connection  with  the  subject  of  religion, 
than  they  have  in  such  connection.  The  truth  is,  these 
diseases  are  no  more  referable  to  any  peculiar  super- 
natural agency,  than  is  the  fever,  or  the  smallpox,  or  the 
toothache.  They  are  liable  to  occur  and  be  propaga- 
ted, by  sympathy,  from  one  to  another,  amid  all  as- 
sembled, terrified,  or  exhausted  throngs,  especially  if 
they  can  be  made  to  believe  in  any  way  whatever,  by 
mystic  wands,  or  spiders,  or  tractors,  or  mice,  that  they 
are  surrounded  by  mysterious  and  potent  influences  of 
unknown  and  dreadful  power. 

Any  purely  imaginary  cause  may  both  produce  and 
remove  them,  by  exciting  terror  to  produce,  and  again 
allaying  it  to  remove  them.  The  question  now  before 
us  is  not,  whether  the  influences  of  the  Holy  Spirit 
may  not,  as  well  as  other  things  or  influences,  in  pecu- 
liar states  of  the  body,  operate  as  an  exciting  cause,  in 
the  production  of  such  results  ;  but  whether  we  are  ei- 
ther authorized  to  teach  or  believe  that  this  is  the  fact 
in  any  case. 


276  ABSURD    CONCLUSIONS. 

Have  we  the  least  reason  to  suppose,  that  divine  in- 
fluences, in  any  case,  produce,  or  even  tend  to  produce, 
any  such  results?  And  yet  good  men  have  so  be- 
lieved and  so  taught ;  and  our  country  is  full  of  the  re- 
sults of  their  teaching  in  many  places,  and  especially 
at  Nauvoo. 

Had  Dr.  Edwards,  whose  praise  for  piety  is  justly 
in  all  the  churches,  lived  to  see  the  final  development 
of  these  opinions  in  Tennessee  and  Kirtland,  he  surely 
would  have  revised  his  belief,  or  else  he  must  have  ad- 
mitted that  the  Spirit  is  poured  out  in  profusion  on 
backsliders,  profane  swearers,  blasphemers,  and  im- 
postors, while  it  is  utterly  withheld,  at  least  in  that 
form,  from  all  the  most  devout  Christians  and  inquiring 
naturalists. 

President  Baxter,  in  his  letter  to  Dr.  Alexander,  avows 
his  conviction  that  the  convulsions  in  Tennessee  were 
the  result  of  the  Spirit,  because  they  operated  as  the 
Saviour  promised  the  Spirit  should  operate — viz,  they 
"  convinced  of  sin,  of  righteousness,  and  of  a  judgment 
to  come."  He  seems  to  have  forgotten  that  the  Sa- 
viour did  not  promise  that  the  Spirit  should  set  the 
world  to  twitching,  jerking,  and  barking. 

Again:  we  are  told,  that  we  must  expect  that  the 
operations  of  the  Spirit  will  change  from  age  to  age. 

True,  this  may  be  so ;  but  the  vain  imagination,  cre- 
dulity, and  dogmas  of  men,  change,  from  age  to  age, 
much  more  than  the  Spirit  of  God  does. 

Such  scenes,  in  modern  times,  are  also  often  com- 
pared to  the  events  of  the  day  of  Pentecost,  of  old. 
Probably  the  operations  of  the  Spirit  were  as  intense 
then,  as  they  have  ever  been  since,  at  any  time,  or  in 
any  age. 


ABSURD    CONCLUSIONS.  277 

And  what  do  we  learn  from  that  memorable  scene  ? 
We  do  indeed  read  that  the  Spirit  was  then  poured  out 
in  power ;  that  the  disciples  spake  with  tongues,  and 
were  greatly  amazed  at  what  happened.  But  of  the 
precise  number  that  were  affected  with  shouting,  bel- 
lowing, trembling,  twitching,  jerking,  barking,  hyster- 
ics, catalepsy,  and  nightmare,  we  are  not  definitely  in- 
formed. Perhaps  Smith's  new  translation  might  throw 
some  light  on  this  point.  We  may  as  well  lay  the 
opinions  of  men,  both  good  and  bad,  on  the  shelf,  until 
that  n^w  light,  from  the  Mormon  divinity,  shall  be 
given  us. 

If  a  few  misguided,  though  devout  men,  gather 
crowds  of  thousands  together  in  the  open  air,  or  in 
some  close  room,  and  keep  them  there,  day  and  night, 
preaching,  singing,  and  shouting,  until  their  nervous 
energy  becomes  quite  exhausted,  and  they  set  to  jerk- 
ing, twitching,  barking,  and  finally  fall  down  in  fits  of 
hysterics  or  catalepsy ;  and  if,  forsooth,  the  Holy  Spirit 
overrules  this  preposterous,  but  well-meant  excitement, 
and  even  converts  and  saves  many  amid  such  a  bed- 
lam of  lunatics,  shall  we,  therefore,  make  the  Spirit 
of  God  responsible  for  the  whole  excitement,  catter- 
waul,  nightmare,  and  all,  and  call  upon  the  world  to 
believe  us  ?  No.  God  is  not  the  author  of  confusion, 
but  of  order  ;  not  of  evil,  but  of  good  ;  and  such  claims, 
amid  the  light  of  the  present  day,  are  an  insult  to  God, 
and  an  outrage  upon  the  common  sense  of  mankind. 
It  is  Mormonism,  in  all  ages  and  all  churches — Mor- 
monism,  whether  found  at  Northampton,  at  Cambus- 
lang,  in  Kentucky,  or  at  Nauvoo.  It  is  everywhere 
the  same  thing,  inside  and  out ;  and  it  is  ridiculous,  or 
something  worse,  to  decry  it  in  one  place,  wink  at  it 


278  CONSEQUENCES  OF  SUCH  OPINIONS. 

in  another,  and  practise  it  in  a  third.  Smith  and  Com- 
pany are  in  the  habit  of  working  up  their  hearers,  by 
one  stratagem  and  another,  to  the  most  intense  excite- 
ment, and  then  of  informing  them  that  the  Spirit  is 
poured  out  upon  them. 

Let  those  who  choose,  go  and  do  likewise ;  but  let 
them  not  complain  of  Mormons  for  doing  the  same 
thing.  And  if,  by  these  and  similar  over-draughts 
upon  the  credulity  of  their  hearers,  they  finally  suc- 
ceed in  breaking  down  all  their  powers  of  rational  in- 
ference, and  thus  prepare  them  for  the  missions  and 
pilgrimages  of  the  prophet,  let  them  not  complain  of 
Joe  Smith.  He  only  perfidiously  perfects  what  they 
have  so  devoutly  begun.  He  only  gathers  the  fruits 
of  a  harvest  from  seed  sown  by  themselves,  and  fos- 
tered and  ripened  by  their  care. 

All  loose  and  floating  opinions  of  this  sort  may,  and 
often  do.  tend  to  increase  popular  excitement,  for  a 
time,  in  a  given  limited  neighborhood.  This  is  often 
the  sole  design  of  such  teaching.  But  they  tend,  in  the 
long-run,  definitely  and  specifically  to  three  given  re- 
sults: — 1.  To  make  one  class  utter  skeptics  and  athe- 
ists. 2.  To  make  another  large  class  doubt  whether, 
in  truth,  God  does  exert  any  moral  influence  upon  the 
world,  except  through  ordinary  well-known  means. 
3.  T-hey  prepare  still  greater  multitudes  to  believe  that 
all  their  emotions  and  feelings,  however  mischievous 
and  absurd,  come  directly  from  God ;  and  they  stand 
ready  to  follow  the  man  who  can  most  excite  them 
with  new  and  strange  things,  whoever  he  may  be,  as 
being  pre-eminently  the  man  of  God.  Joe  Smith  and 
Company  happen  to  be  the  favorite  enchanters  now,  as 


CONSEaUENCES  OF  INTERNAL  REVELATIONS.        279 

Matthias,  Jemima  Wilkinson,  and  Ann  Lee  were  some 
years  ago,  soon  after  the  great  revivals  in  New-Eng- 
land.    Others,  however,  divide  the  spoil  with  him. 

If  such  facts  and  events  are  ascribed  directly,  or  in 
popular  belief,  to  God,  the  public  mind  cannot  and  will 
not  hold  fast  to  the  great  truth,  that  all  our  hope  is  in 
God,  and  God  alone,  and  that  we  are,  each  and  all, 
utterly  dependent  on  him  for  every  good  thought, 
word,  and  deed,  as  well  as  for  eternal  salvation ;  and 
that  we  are,  at  the  same  time,  so  dependent  as  not 
to  imply  any  thing  contrary  either  to  the  soundest 
reason  or  the  highest  moral  freedom.  If  their  cre- 
dulity is  tasked,  either  in  this,  or  any  other  way, 
contrary  to  reason  and  scripture,  we  shall  soon  find 
them  in  two  great  classes,  one  class  of  skeptics,  another 
of  fanatics,  ready  for  any  leader  or  any  adventurer 
whatever.  As  a  caution  to  the  former,  I  will  only  add 
that,  in  this  same  way,  revivals  of  pure  religion  have 
often  been  brought  into  contempt  in  their  minds,  and  in 
the  minds  of  their  comrades.  Doubtless,  if  they  dis- 
criminated more,  and  doubted  less,  they  would  show 
more  intellect,  and  secure  to  themselves  more  good ; 
but  they  will  not  do  it.  The  mass  of  mankind  will 
either  take  or  reject  things,  under  the  same  name,  by 
the  gross,  and  we  must  expect  it.  Hence,  all  should 
take  care  what  they  label  with  sacred  names.  Truth 
is  like  an  apothecary's  drugs  ;  if  the  labels  are  wrong, 
it  is  worse  than  nothing.  The  chance  of  a  wrong  dose 
secures  the  rejection  of  a  right  and  needful  one.  If 
ever  there  was  a  class,  or  a  race  of  men  on  earth,  who 
ought  neither  to  assert  nor  believe  any  thing  in  religion, 
until  it  is  absolutely  demonstrated,  however  unimportant, 


280  HOLY  COMFORTS,  AND  CONFIRMATIONS* 

the  religious  teachers  of  the  United  States  are  that 
class. 

3.  But  internal  revelations,  visions,  raptures,  and  ec- 
stacies,  of  all  sorts,  are  also  ascribed  to  the  direct  influ- 
ences of  the  Holy  Spirit.  This,  again,  is  not  simply  like 
Mormonism ;  it  is,  in  itself,  one  of  the  main  pillars  of 
Mormonism.  Doubtless  the  devout  Christian  enjoys  a 
peace  and  comfort  of  mind,  in  all  the  duties  of  his  life, 
which  the  world  knows  not  of;  but  does  this  justify  us  in 
referring  all  our  transient  states  of  internal  commotion 
to  the  direct  agency  of  the  Spirit  of  God  ?  Have  we 
not  an  animal  as  well  as  a  spiritual  and  immortal  na- 
ture ?  and  is  the  latter  without  change,  except  by  mira- 
cle ?  Multitudes  measure  the  daily  influences  of  the 
Spirit  of  God  upon  their  minds,  not  by  the  degree  of 
fidelity  with  which  they  are  enabled  to  discharge  all 
their  duties  to  God  and  man,  but  by  the  amount  of  plea- 
surable or  happy  feelings  which  they  are  enabled,  by 
one  process  and  another,  to  excite  in  themselves.  A 
brisk  northwester  brings  down  upon  them  copious  effu- 
sions of  what  they  call  the  influences  of  the  Spirit, 
while  an  envious  east  wind,  or  a  drizzling  southern 
blast,  blows  it  all  away  again.  To-day  they  are  in 
ecstacies ;  to-morrow,  in  despair.  Graham-bread  brings 
the  one  ;  plum-pudding,  the  other.  They  attribute  all, 
however,  to  the  presence  or  absence  of  the  Spirit  of 
comfort. 

But  this  phase  of  error  is  of  small  moment,  compara- 
tively, for  there  are  comparatively  few  among  spiritual 
pleasure-seekers,  sufficiently  fidgety  to  fall  under  the 
full  influence  of  these  ups  and  downs. 

A  far  more  mischievous  error,  is  this:  multitudes  get 
the  impression,  in  some  way,  that  they  are  the  children 


DIRECT  TEACHINGS  OF  THE  SPIRIT OLD  MONKS.     281 

of  God,  as  perhaps  they  are.  They  are  taught  to  pray 
to  God  to  guide  their  minds  into  the  knowledge  of  the 
truth,  and  to  believe,  in  full  confidence,  that  he  is  willing 
and  ready  to  do  it.  Now  this  is  precisely  right.  It  is 
what  every  rational  human  being  should  do  and  believe. 
But  instead  of  expecting  that  God  will  so  lead  them, 
by  tranquillizing  their  passions,  and  thus  enabling  them 
to  use  the  full  and  unembarrassed  force  of  the  powers 
he  has  given  them,  on  the  duties  of  life,  they  expect 
some  wonderful  internal  sign,  or  impulse,  or  emotion, 
which  shall  at  once  either  relieve  or  confirm  the  tedious 
processes  of  thought,  and  indicate  to  them  the  path  of 
duty  and  faith,  not  only  by  the  convictions  of  reason 
and  conscience,  but  also  by  the  impulses  of  passion,  or,  as 
they  fancy,  "the  direct  intimations  of  the  Deity.  Instead 
of  endeavoring  to  tranquillize  their  emotions,  therefore, 
by  prayer,  they  at  once  set  themselves  to  working  their 
minds  up  to  as  high  a  pitch  of  excitement  as  possible  ; 
and  that  side  of  any  question  around  which  their  feel- 
ings kindle,  and  glow,  and  burn  most  readily  and  most 
furiously,  is  of  course  the  side  of  truth,  approved  by 
the  Spirit,  and  blessed  and  sanctioned  by  an  unction 
from  on  high. 

Now,  the  Mormon  prophet  says  that  the  Lord  told 
him  how  to  go  through  this  whole  process  to  perfec- 
tion while  translating  the  gold  bible.  "  First,  study  it 
out  in  your  own  mind,  and  then  pray,  and,  if  it  is  right, 
your  bosom  shall  burn  within  you."  The  rule  is  short 
and  comprehensive;  thousands  are  now  practising  upon 
it  at  Nauvoo,  and  other  thousands  who  are  in  a  fair 
way  to  be  there  soon. 

The  old  monks  had  special  rules  for  exciting  these 
enrapturing  visions  and  ecstacies  of  faith,  which  many 


282  ART  OF  DREAMING. 

moderns  fall  into  by  accident.  Indeed,  this  is  the  case 
with  most  of  those  who  seek  for  pleasure  to  themselves, 
or  happy  feelings,  as  they  call  them,  in  religion,  instead 
of  duty  to  God  and  their  fellows. 

The  substance  of  all  their  various  rules  was  first  by 
prayers,  watchings,  fastings,  penances,  and  devout  con- 
templations, to  increase  the  nervous  irritability  of  the 
system,  and  render  the  imagination  as  vigorous  and 
brisk  as  possible,  and  the  corrective  power  of  reason 
and  the  senses  as  weak  and  languid  as  possible.  To 
this  end,  some  fixed  their  eyes,  as  long  and  intently  as 
possible,  on  a  crucifix,  others  on  the  heavens,  others  on 
their  noses,  and  still  others  on  their  navels.  They  were 
thus  soon  enabled  to  pass  whole  hours  in  ecstatic  rap- 
tures, and  visions  unutterable.  The  Spanish  St.  The- 
resia,  through  extreme  emaciation,  produced  by  these 
means,  was  enabled  to  live  amid  visions  and  glories  for 
more  than  twenty  years. 

A  certain  poet,  by  the  name  of  Guatry,  tells  us  that 
he  resorted  to  the  same  method,  of  fasting  and  watch- 
ing, in  order  to  excite  and  arouse  his  visions  of  poetic 
inspiration.  Other  poets  have  often  tried  similar  means 
of  giving  their  imagination  the  ascendancy  over  their 
reason,  if,  indeed,  they  had  any  reason.  This  is  only 
the  sublime  art  of  dreaming  while  one  is  awake.  Som- 
nambulism, or  sleep-walking,  is,  on  the  other  hand,  the 
more  rational  art  of  being  awake  while  one  dreams ; 
and  those  who  endeavor  to  excite  in  themselves,  by 
prayer  or  otherwise,  internal  communications  and  reve- 
lations of  the  Spirit,  by  giving  their  emotions  and  imagi- 
nation the  ascendancy  over  the  powers  of  reason,  are 
in  a  fair  way  to  dream  all  the  time,  both  sleeping  and 
waking.    It  seems  almost  fated,  that  men  of  such  habits 


mormons'  marvellous  experience.  283 

of  devotion  should  become  Mormons,  in  whatever 
church  they  are.  They  have  never  sought  much  else 
in  religion  but  to  get  periodical  happy  feelings.  Their 
old  sources  of  excitement  lose  their  power,  and  some 
new  fanaticism  is  indispensable  to  furnish  fuel  for  the 
flame.  Every  Mormon  knows  that  Smith's  book  is 
true,  because  he  sought  in  agonizing  prayer,  and  God, 
by  his  Spirit,  revealed  it  to  him.  He  means,  by  agoni- 
zing prayer,  simply  heaving  up  his  diaphragm,  holding 
his  breath,  and  praying  as  though  the  Deity  was  deaf; 
and  the  <unction  of  the  Spirit,  as  he  thinks,  comes  down 
just  in  proportion  to  the  intensity  with  which  his  dia- 
phragm heaves  up.  Perhaps  some  may  think  that 
many  things  here  ascribed  to  either  the  processes  or 
the  perversions  of  nature,  are  the  genuine  results  of  the 
Spirit  of  truth.  If  so,  then  the  Mormons  have  got  the 
truth,  more  pure  and  unadulterated  than  any  other  class 
of  religionists,  and  we  ought  to  be  marching  towards 
Nauvoo  at  once. 

At  Kirtland,  they  had  their  trances,  visions,  and  con- 
vulsions by  wholesale.  Direct  revelations  from  the 
Spirit  are  hourly  occurrences.  The  Spirit  is  mightily 
poured  out  upon  their  popular  meetings.  It  fills  the 
minds  of  the  saints  with  raptures  and  ecstatic  joy. 
Their  leaders  know  that  all  these  things  are  the  direct 
influences  of  the  Spirit.  The  pious  Mormon,  who  has 
been  proselyted  from  some  of  the  other  churches,  now 
enjoys  in  his  new  abode  far  greater  light,  more  thrill- 
ing, and  rapturous,  and  ecstatic  impulses  and  emotions 
than  ever  he  did  before ;  and,  above  all,  he  has  found 
out  that  Smith's  book,  the  116  pages,  Jared's  barges, 
and  all,  are  of  divine  origin  and  authority ;  for  the 
Spirit,  sought  in  agonizing  prayer,  has  expressly  re- 


284  SECTARIANISM. 

vealed  it  unto  him ;  and  he  knows  in  his  soul  that  it  is 
so.  Let  others,  who  know  things  in  their  souls  before 
they  know  them  in  their  heads,  take  warning ;  and  let 
all  take  warning,  who  trust  to  any  thing  in  prayer  but 
simple  sincerity  ;  or  to  any  thing  in  belief  but  pure 
reason ;  or  any  thing  in  duty  but  simple  natural  con- 
science, well  enlightened  by  God's  most  holy  truth.  If 
the  Spirit  of  God,  in  mercy,  condescends  to  guide  our 
wayward  minds,  he  will  guide  them  through  these 
healthful  and  natural  channels,  and  no  other. 

By  thus  speaking  of  reason,  I  do  not  exclude  faith ; 
for  faith  is  cordial  belief  on  rational  evidence,  and  be- 
lief in  any  thing  whatever,  on  any  other  ground,  is  not 
faith,  but  folly,  or  madness,  or  presumption  ;  and  those 
who  teach  men  to  believe  on  any  other  ground,  teach 
Mormonism,  and  not  Christianity. 

One  primary  cause  of  the  spread  of  the  former  may 
be  said,  in  general,  to  arise  from  the  extreme  frequency 
with  which  men  are  called  upon  to  believe  in  matters 
of  faith,  without  having  the  grounds  of  rational  belief 
placed  distinctly  and  clearly  before  them.  Doubtless 
this  is  an  error  inevitable,  to  some  extent,  with  us  all, 
from  both  limitation  of  mind  and  the  uncertainties  of 
language.  But,  if  religious  belief  could  be  chained 
rigorously  to  reason,  fanaticism,  and  infidelity  too, 
would  soon  be  consigned  to  the  moles  and  the  bats. 

The  influence  of  modern  sectarian  animosities,  jeal- 
ousies, and  rivalries,  upon  both  the  origin  and  progress 
of  Mormonism,  is  sufficiently  apparent.  Smith  himself 
attributes  his  own  hegira  to  the  influence  of  sectarian 
divisions  on  his  mind. 

Whether  this  is  a  simple  truth,  or  a  mere  after- 
thought, a  correction  of  the  press,  for  specific  ends. 


SECTARIANISM.  285 

we  cannot  determine.  Sectarian  divisions  have,  how- 
ever, contributed  immensely  to  the  growth  of  the 
Mormons  in  two  distinct  ways. 

1.  They  lead  vast  multitudes  to  suppose,  that  the 
great  substance  of  Christianity  lies  in  those  outward 
forms  and  metaphysical  distinctions,  about  which  the 
sects  are  most  inclined  to  wrangle. 

2.  The  disputes  which  have  thus  arisen,  have  too  often 
confounded  the  natural  powers  of  man's  moral  reason 
and  discrimination,  by  investing  them  on  all  sides  with 
a  dense  fog  of  commingled  truths  and  sophisms,  amid 
which  there  is  neither  darkness  nor  light.  In  this  way, 
they  excite,  in  the  minds  of  many,  an  eager  and  inordi- 
nate desire  that  light  from  some  source,  either  natural 
or  supernatural,  should  dispel  the  darkness,  and  reduce 
to  quiet  and  order  the  chaos  that  reigns  both  within  and 
without. 

If  men  are  once  made  to  feel  that  their  eternal  sal- 
vation, either  in  part  or  in  whole,  is  suspended  on  a 
metaphysical  cobweb,  they  will  never  rest  easy  until 
they  think  they  see  clearly  what  that  cobweb  hangs  on. 
If  Joe  Smith  can  tell  them,  on  divine  authority,  they 
will  believe  him,  because  they  prefer  belief  to  doubt. 
Men  can  endure  to  submit  to  the  necessary  conditions 
of  human  ignorance,  and  live  in  doubt,  as  regards  all 
they  deem  unessential.  But  the  moment  these  unes- 
sential become  magnified  into  great  fundamental 
truths,  by  the  declamatory  warfare  of  sects,  doubt  is 
more  intolerable  than  absurdity. 

Again :  the  Mormons  have  not  failed  to  take  all  pos- 
sible advantage  of  this  condition  of  things,  by  engen- 
dering distrust  in  all  other  sects,  and  holding  up  their 
own,  as  the  only  refuge  to  which  men  may  at  once  flee, 


286  MYSTIC    INTERPRETATION. 

for  the  inspired  solution  of  all  their  doubts,  and  in  the 
sanctuary  of  which  they  may  cherish,  to  the  full,  that 
hope  of  universal  union  and  concord,  so  instinctively 
dear  to  the  human  soul. 

The  prevalent  mystical  interpretation  of  the  Scrip- 
tures has  operated  in  the  same  direction.  Men  of 
plain  common  sense  can  be  held  to  a  mystical  inter- 
pretation of  any  writing,  in  their  vernacular  tongue, 
only  by  the  force  of  external  constraint.  There  are 
two  general  modes  of  interpreting  written  language. 
One  is  to  let  it  speak  to  plain  common  sense  for  itself. 
The  other  is  to  pinch  it  by  the  nose,  with  our  expound- 
ing forceps, until  it  squeals,  and  then  interpret  the  squeal. 
The  Mormons  loudly  profess  to  adhere  only  to  the  for- 
mer, but,  like  some  others  who  handle  the  word  of  God 
deceitfully,  they  in  reality  practise  both  modes,  as  occa- 
sion requires.  Their  pretensions,  however,  to  the  for- 
mer mode  give  them  great  power  over  the  ignorant ; 
and  especially  where  a  mystical  or  restricted  interpre- 
tation of  scripture  has  prevailed,  they  can  produce  a 
strong  reaction  in  their  own  favor. 

For  example :  by  admitting  the  plain  language  of 
scripture,  as  regards  the  emotions  of  the  Deity,  the 
Mormons  have  gained  a  great  advantage  over  many 
of  their  opponents.  The  Scriptures  speak  most  expli- 
citly and  unequivocally  of  the  joy,  grief,  wrath,  &c, 
of  the  Deity.  Still,  many  have  assumed  that  this  could 
not,  in  truth,  be  so ;  and  in  explaining  these  passages, 
they  have,  in  fact,  flatly  contradicted  them,  and  cover- 
ed their  temerity  with  a  tissue  of  sophistry,  more  or 
less  plausible  and  impervious.  God  thus  becomes,  in 
their  hands,  a  great  abstraction,  a  sort  of  intellectual 
iceberg,  hanging  over  the  universe  with  impending 


FACILITY    OF    ARGUMENT    AND    DEFENCE.  287 

weight,  frigidity,  and  terror,  without  pleasure,  without 
pain,  without  feeling  or  emotion,  in  short,  without  any 
thing  that  anybody  would  think  of  loving,  much  less 
of  worshipping. 

To  plain  common  sense  people,  the  Mormon  divini- 
ty, with  hands,  feet,  and  every  other  bodily  organ, 
seems,  as  in  fact  it  is,  at  once  more  rational  and  scrip- 
tural than  such  a  monstrous  abstraction,  hung  up,  mid 
air,  between  atheism  and  pantheism. 

The  Mormons  do  not  fail  to  avail  themselves  of  this 
absurdity,  wherever  they  can.  They  dethrone  this 
abstraction,  and  set  up  an  ape,  plagued  by  the  devil, 
and  equalled  (or,  as  it  would  seem,  is  about  to  be)  by 
themselves. 

In  discussion,  also,  they  have  an  immense  advantage, 
arising  from  the  fact  that  they  come  to  the  contest  unen- 
cumbered, either  by  any  well-known  creeds  or  modes  of 
interpretation.  Their  antagonist,  like  Bunyan's  pilgrim 
at  the  gateway,  always  brings  along  a  backload  of  opin- 
ions and  formulas,  which  he  bears  and  defends,  in  honor 
of  his  sect ;  and  it  often  causes  him  more  trouble  to  de- 
fend the  language  of  his  creed,  than  it  does  to  maintain 
the  truth  of  his  opinions.  The  points  of  attack,  on  the 
one  side,  are  always  obvious,  if  not  vulnerable  ;  those 
on  the  other  are  vague  and  uncertain ;  and  if  not  ea- 
sily defended,  are  at  least  easily  abandoned.  A  Mor- 
mon, in  debate  with  a  sectarian,  is  like  the  Irishman's 
flea  :  he  can  feel  his  bite,  but  when  he  puts  his  finger 
where  he  is,  he  is  not  there.  It  seems,  sometimes,  as 
though  the  devil  gave  cunning  to  those  to  whom  the 
Lord  had  denied  talent.  They  are  at  least  vexatious 
and  troublesome  opponents.     The  buzz  of  a  moscheto 


288        GIFTS    OF   HEALING AGUE,    PROPHETS,    ETC. 

is  often  more  annoying  than  the  tramp  of  an  ele- 
phant. 

Indeed,  nothing  could  be  better  adapted  to  delude 
the  weak  and  credulous  than  their  modes  of  interpre- 
tation and  debate.  They  affect  to  be  perfect  masters 
of  the  most  incomprehensible  parts  of  the  divine  word. 
Where  knowledge  is  perplexed,  and  genius  falters,  they 
at  once  soar  aloft.  No  mysteries,  nor  contradictions, 
nor  absurdities  afford  any  obstacle  to  their  ascent. 
Their  dexterity  increases,  and  their  vanity  rises,  with 
the  pile  of  nonsense  which  they  accumulate.  A  part 
of  their  hearers  are  of  course  convinced,  the  rest  are 
sure  to  be  confounded ;  not  as  they  imagine,  however, 
with  argument,  but  with  sound. 

This  facility  of  apparent  argument  and  exposition 
suits  and  attracts  a  great  variety  of  characters.  The 
annoyed,  the  rejected,  and  the  outcasts  from  other 
churches,  at  once  see  new  light  and  conceive  new 
hopes.  The  ambitious  and  the  vain  admire  the  ease 
with  which  they  can  turn  from  the  guidance  of  the 
wheelbarrow  to  the  government  of  the  church.  The 
gross  see  charms  in  a.  sensual  paradise,  which  they  can 
see  in  no  other. 

The  religious  dreamer  may  here  dream  at  his  leisure, 
and  fasten  all  his  conceptions  to  objects  of  sense,  which 
renders  them  at  once  more  vigorous  and  stable. 

All  are  convinced  that  they  are  born  to  be  great ; 
and  Mormonism  with  its  missions,  orders,  and  function- 
aries, prophets,  priests,  apostles,  &c,  alone  opens  the 
door  of  destiny  to  their  hopes.  Other  unaspiring  mul- 
titudes have  been  trained  to  receive  mere  human  opin- 
ions in  faith,  from  their  infancy.  The  dogmas  of  their 
sect  constitute  the  whole  object  of  their  faith.     They 


ALLUREMENTS WAR  ON  HUMAN  NATURE.     289 

never  have  dared  to  question  their  truth.  It  is  easy 
for  these  to  transfer  their  allegiance  from  one  Joe 
Smith  to  another.  All  that  is  needed  is  to  stimulate  their 
courage  by  the  united  force  of  novelty,  sympathy,  and 
numbers. 

Other  multitudes  still  have  but  one  article  in  their 
creed,  and  that  is  a  firm  belief  in  the  latest  absurdity. 
That  absurdity  at  the  present  moment  happens  to  be 
Mormonism. 

It  sometimes  happens  that  in  warring  upon  the  vices 
of  mankind,  men  unconsciously  attempt  to  annihilate 
their  humanity,  in  place  of  reforming  it.  They  see 
the  mass  of  men  living  as  if  earth  was  their  home,  and  the 
body  their  all.  They  rush  to  the  opposite  extreme,  and 
strive  to  become  ethereal,  while  still  embodied  in  flesh. 
This  they  do  by  attempting  to  live  as  though  they  were 
already  out  of  the  body,  and  away  from  the  "ills  which 
flesh  is  heir  to."  They  would  fain  live  out  of  the 
world,  instead  of  above  it.  They  forget,  that  while 
we  should  not  be  devils  we  cannot  be  angels  ;  that  it 
is  our  business  to  reform,  and  not  to  affect  to  annihilate 
our  humanity.  Encompassed  still  by  earthly  care,  en- 
feebled by  vice,  and  perplexed  with  doubts,  we  ought 
to  expect  only  what  God  demands,  and  demand  only 
what  he  is  ready  to  give.  But  such  warfare  upon  hu- 
man nature  itself  cannot  fail  to  throw  the  community 
into  two  opposite  classes,  a  large  band*  of  practical 
atheists,  a  small  one  of  hypochrondiacal  enthusiasts, 
ready  for  a  new  faith  as  soon  as  their  old  one  has  fail- 
ed to  work  their  fancied  transmutation  from  an  animal 
to  a  spiritual  existence.  Many  of  these  try  first  to  be 
all  religion  ;  next  they  try  all  sorts  of  religion ;  and 
finally  no  religion  at  all. 

13 


290  GIFTS  OF  HEALING. 

We  may  cherish  either  indignation,  or  pity,  or  con- 
tempt, for  all  these  frailties  of  our  common  humanity, 
as  we  please.  But  we  cannot  remove  them.  We  may 
lament  or  despise  the  ruin  which  grows  out  of  them, 
but  we  cannot  hinder  it.  By  substituting  reason  and 
faith  for  credulity  and  belief  without  reason,  we  may 
arrest  at  once  the  fatal  career  of  the  skeptic  and  the 
fanatic,  and  give  to  the  world  a  specific  for  half  its 
crimes,  and  a  solace  for  all  its  woes.  This  is  our  great 
work. 

Reader,  have  you  proved  all  things  from  God's  most 
holy  truth,  and  do  you  hold  fast  only  what  is  good  ? 

The  pretensions  which  the  Mormons  make  to  the 
gifts  of  healing,  remain  to  be  noticed  as  one  of  the 
sources  of  popular  credulity.  As  this  is  a  standing 
source  of  delusion,  and  as  events  probably  do  actually 
occur  among  them,  which,  from  ignorance  of  well- 
known  facts,  puzzle  many  honest  minds,  we  will,  as 
heretofore,  first  resort  to  the  remedy  of  facts. 

Plutarch  relates  that  Pyrrhus,  king  of  Epirus,  cured 
affections  of  the  spleen  by  pressing  the  side  of  the  pa- 
tient with  his  right  foot.  The  emperor  Hadrian  is  said 
to  have  restored  a  blind  man  to  sight,  in  Pannonia. 
The  emperor  Vespasian  also,  as  Tacitus  relates,  re- 
stored one  man  who  was  diseased  in  his  eyes,  and  an- 
other who  was  lame  in  his  hand,  in  Alexandria.* 

Edward  Third,  as  well  as  other  princes  of  royal 
blood,  cured  many  scrofulous  tumors  by  the  healing 
power  of  the  king's  touch,  called  from  this  popular 
superstition,  "  the  king's  evil,"  to   this  day.     He  had 

♦Tacitus,  B.  4,  p.  81. 


•VALENTINE  GREATRAKES.   29l 

also  a  mystic  ring,  with  which  he  cured  epilepsy  in 
the  same  way. 

Charles  Second  alone  touched  92,000  persons,  in 
twenty-four  years,  for  the  king's  evil.  The  princes  of 
Austria  were  accustomed  to  cure  the  same  disease  by 
giving  a  glass  of  wine  to  the  patient  with  their  own 
hand. 

Doctor  Raniere  Gerbi,  professor  of  mathematics  in 
Pisa,  Italy,  in  the  year  1797,  published  his  celebrated 
remedy  for  the  toothache.  A  dozen  bugs,  of  a  peculiar 
species*  were  to  be  taken  successively  and  squeezed 
between  the  thumb  and  finger,  until  their  moisture  had 
evaporated ;  the  fingers  of  the  operator  thus  becoming 
impregnated  with  the  healing  virtue,  would  cure  the 
toothache  for  a  year  after,  whenever  applied  to  the 
face  of  the  patient.  This  remedy  soon  became  so 
famous  that  the  healing  bugs  began  to  grow  scarce. 
But  after  proper  inquiry  and  experiment,  it  was  found 
that  similar  bugs,  of  a  different  species,  would  do  just 
as  well ;  and  soon  after,  it  was  found  that  no  bug  at 
all  was  just  as  good,  provided  the  patient  imagined  that 
the  fingers  were  duly  impregnated.  Here  of  course 
the  spell  soon  broke,  and,  as  in  the  case  of  Perkins* 
metallic  tractors,  the  remedy  lost  its  power,  and  Doctor 
Gerbi  his  fame.* 

In  France,  the  hand  of  glory,  or  the  hand  of  a  man 
who  had  been  hung,  taken  off  and  dried,  effected  mar- 
vellous cures. 

In  1662,  Valentine  Greatrakes,  the  pious  son  of  an 
Irish  gentlemen,  got  the  impression,  that  he  was  com- 
manded of  God  to  touch  for  the  king's  evil.     He  com- 

*Dic.  des  Sciences  Medicales,  vol.  29 — An.  Magnetism. 


292  iCURVY  AT  BREDA. 

menced  and  practised  with  wonderful  success  for  three: 
years.  At  this  time  the  ague  prevailed,  as  an  epidemic. 
He  tried  his  power  upon  this  also  with  equal  success. 
At  length  the  simple  touch  of  his  hand  was  found  to 
cure,  not  only  scrofula  and  ague,  but  epilepsy,  paralysis, 
&c.  Multitudes,  not  only  from  Ireland  but  from  Eng- 
land, thronged  around  him,  affected  with  all  sorts  of 
diseases ;  and  so  great  was  his  fame,  that  he  devoted 
whole  days,  for  twelve  hours  per  day,  in  laying  hands 
on  the  sick.  His  glove  was  found  to  be  equally  as 
efficient  as  his  hand,  and  even  the  sight  of  him  some- 
times produced  wonderful  effects.  But  though  many 
were  cured,  still  more  were  not  cured. 

About  the  same  time,  Francis  Bagnone,  an  Italian 
friar,  was  famous  for  the  same  gift  of  healing.  Multi- 
tudes followed  him  wherever  he  went,  and  even  the 
Prince  of  Parma,  who  had  labored  under  a  febrile 
disease  for  six  months,  was  cured  by  his  voice  alone. 
Great  numbers,  however,  who  applied,  were  not  bene- 
fited. One  Marcus  Avianus,  of  Denmark,  and  a  farmer 
of  Devonshire,  England,  the  ninth  son  of  a  ninth  son, 
are  both  said  to  have  had  this  wondrous  power  of 
healing. 

During  the  siege  of  Breda,  in  1625,  the  soldiers  were 
terribly  afflicted  with  the  scurvy.  When  the  Prince 
of  Orange  learned  that  such  were  the  ravages  of  the 
disease  that  the  city  was  about  to  be  delivered  up,  he 
sent  three  small  vials  of  medicine  for  the  relief  of  the 
whole  army,  assuring  them  "  that  the  remedy  was  infal- 
lible, that  it  was  of  immense  cost,  and  of  still  greater 
efficacy."  And,  although  the  whole  three  vials  were 
not  a  dose  for  as  many  men,  it  was  publicly  given  out 
with  great  solemnity  that  three  or  four  drops  were 


293 

sufficient  to  impart  healing  virtue  to  a  gallon  of  liquor. 
Nauseous  roots,  camphor,  wormwood,  &c,  were  secret- 
ly infused,  which  should  give  the  liquor  the  necessary 
pungent  flavor;  and  when  their  vials  were  exhausted, 
the  nauseous  decoction  was  still  just  as  good  and  effi- 
cacious. The  soldiers  were  taken  by  stratagem;  every 
dose  made  them  better,  their  limbs  grew  more  and  more 
limber,  their  hopes  revived,  their  activity  increased, 
they  were  restored,  and  their  city  saved.*' 

In  the  year  1798,  an  American,  by  the  name  of  Per- 
kins, obtained  royal  letters  patent,  in  England,  for  the 
discovery  of  his  famous  metallic  tractors,  as  he  called 
them,  or  two  small  bits  of  metal,  brought  to  a  point, 
which  he  moved  about  over  the  diseased  parts  of  the 
human  body,  gently  touching  the  surface  ;  and  thus,  by 
withdrawing  the  galvanic  or  electric  fluid,  (as  he  termed 
it,)  he  was  enabled  to  cure  the  most  inveterate  chronic 
and  other  diseases. 

This  imposition  prevailed  in  this  country  and  Europe. 
Thousands  and  tens  of  thousands  certified  to  the  bene- 
ficial results  of  the  tractors,  and  in  less  than  six  years, 
Mr.  Perkins  left  England  with  ten  thousand  pounds 
sterling,  as  the  avails  of  his  practice  upon  popular  cre- 
dulity. 

This  silent  and  spiritual  remedy  seemed  particularly 
acceptable  to  the  Quakers.  They  founded  a  "  Perkin- 
ian"  institution  for  the  cure  of  the  poor,  without  the 
trouble  and  bustle  of  a  medicinal  hospital,  and  the  use- 
less aid  of  scientific  doctors.  They  published  a  pam- 
phlet disclosing  the  surprising  success  of  their  quiet  and 
Quaker-like  remedy. 

*  See  Rees'  Encyclopedia,  vol.  19 — Imitation. 


294  PERKINS AUSTIN. 

• 

It  was,  however,  soon  discovered  by  Drs.  Heygarth 
and  Falconer,  of  England,  that  wooden  tractors,  painted 
in  imitation  of  the  metallic,  would  do  just  as  well,  and 
finally,  that  none  at  all  were  better  than  either,  provided 
the  patient  could  be  made  to  believe  that  he  was  under 
their  influence.  Thus  the  bubble  burst,  and  in  less  than 
a  dozen  years  the  wonderful  tractors  were  wholly  for- 
gotten, though  beyond  doubt  they  cured  multitudes  of 
their  diseases,  through  mere  force  of  the  imagination, 
so  long  as  they  believed  in  them. 

In  the  year  1808,  a  Mr.  Austin,  in  the  town  of  Col- 
chester, Vermont,  gave  out  that  he  was  gifted  with  the 
art  of  healing,  and  that  whoever  would  describe  to 
him,  by  word  of  mouth,  or  by  letter,  the  symptoms  of 
his  malady,  should  receive  " a  healing  word"  if  indeed 
his  disease  were  curable.  His  obscure  retreat  was 
soon  thronged  by  invalids  from  all  sections  of  the  coun- 
try. Ballston  and  Saratoga  seemed,  for  the  time,  for- 
gotten. Barrooms  and  postoffices  were  deluged  with 
floods  of  letters  to  the  "  prophet  at  Colchester."  Mail 
carriers  groaned  under  burdens  of  the  kind  of  diseases 
described.  Hawkers  and  vagrants  traversed  the  coun- 
try to  procure  and  carry  letters  of  symptoms  to  the 
prophet,  for  only  fifty  cents  a  letter.  The  deaf  soon 
heard,  the  blind  saw,  dropsies  and  consumptions  stood 
aghast,  and  multitudes  were  found  to  amend  at  the  pre- 
cise time  their  letters  were  supposed  to  have  reached 
the  prophet.  Such  fame  was  however  too  glorious  for 
long  continuance.  Like  that  of  the  metallic  tractors,  it 
soon  began  to  decline  and  leave  the  prophet  to  his  lei- 
sure, and  the  diseases  of  his  patients  to  their  usual  quiet 
and  fatality.* 

*  Powers'  Influence  of  Imagination,  p.  28. 


CAUSE  OF    THESE  PHENOMENA.  295 

Now  here  are  instances  of  healing  powers  being  pos- 
sessed by  individuals,  to  a  far  greater  extent  than  the 
most  credulous  of  the  Mormons  ever  claimed  for  them- 
selves or  their  leaders,  and  still  in  most  cases  there  is 
no  pretension  to  Divine  aid  ;  and  where  or  whenever 
there  is  any  such  pretension,  it  is  false  and  sacrilegious. 

Abating  as  much  as  we  please  from  these  reports,  on 
the  ground  of  credulity,  there  were  still,  in  many  cases, 
surprising  cures  wrought.  The  effects  of  magic,  in- 
cantation, amulets,  holy  relics,  &c.  of  ancient  times,  of 
many  patent  nostrums  of  more  recent  date,  are  all  to 
be  referred  to  the  same  causes.  They  have  doubtless, 
one  and  all,  in  their  day,  wrought  wonderful  cures  on 
all  those  diseases  which  could  be  cured  by  the  combined 
effect  of  credulity  and  imagination  ;  exciting  and  work- 
ing, through  the  mind,  upon  the  body.  Indeed  there 
are  probably  some  diseases  which  may  thus  be  cured 
by  the  intervention  of  the  mind,  which  could  not  be 
cured  in  any  other  way. 

Undoubtedly  all  the  cures  above  mentioned,  and 
thousands  of  others,  said  to  have  been  wrought  by  sim- 
ilar means,  in  the  dark  ages,  are  either  the  hyperbolical 
exaggerations  of  interested  deceivers  and  dupes,  or 
else  real  cures  were  wrought  by  the  effect  of  the  ima- 
gination alone,  by  well-known  influences  and  laws. 

In  the  case  of  all  diseases  which  can  be  removed 
thus  through  the  influence  of  the  imagination,  but  one 
single  thing  is  requisite  in  the  remedy  applied,  and  that 
is,  that  it  should  inspire  the  patient  with  full  confidence 
in  its  virtues  and  success.  The  patient  must  believe 
in  its  efficacy.  This  point  being  gained,  Perkins'  me- 
tallic pegs,  Dr.  Heygarth's  wooden  ones,  King  Pyrrhus' 
foot,  or  Prince  Edward's  hand,  Greatrakes'  glove,  the 


296        DIFFERENCE  BETWEEN  CURES  AND  MIRACLES. 

Prophet  Austin's  word,  the  Prince  of  Orange's  slops, 
Deacon  Paris'  spirit,  or  a  dead  saint's  toe  nail,  Doctor 
Gerbis'  bugs,  and  Joe  Smith's  holy  oil,  are  all  equally 
good.  One  will  cure  just  as  well  as  the  other.  The 
Mormon  doctrine  of  faith  is  here  therefore  rightly  insisted 
upon  with  great  earnestness,  viz  :  "  First  believe,  and 
then  you  shall  have  the  evidence." 

The  difference  between  all  these  and  the  miracles  of 
our  Saviour  lies  mainly  in  four  points. 

1.  They  all  proceed  from  known,  though  to  some 
extent  inexplicable,  causes  and  principles. 

2.  They  were  all  merely  tentative ;  that  is,  out  of 
multitudes  of  cases,  comparatively  few  cases  succeeded, 
and  in  no  instance  was  the  success  universal,  as  in  the 
case  of  our  Saviour. 

3.  The  cures,  in  most  cases,  were  either  gradual,  or 
else  the  diseases  cured  depended  immediately  upon  the 
excitement  of  the  nervous  system,  through  the  imagi- 
nation, for  their  cure. 

4.  We  have  shown,  in  chapter  third,  that  the  credi- 
bility of  the  miracles  of  the  New  Testament  depended, 
not  solely  upon  testimony,  nor  upon  the  bare  fact  that 
wonderful  events  actually  occurred,  but  upon  the  fact 
that  those  events  are  connected  with  a  most  exalted 
character,  and  with  an  entire  series  of  moral,  providen- 
tial, and  prophetic  events,  running  through  the  entire 
history  of  the  world,  and  presenting  phenomena  to 
every  age,  absolutely  inexplicable  without  admitting  the 
intervention  of  miraculous  power.  Indeed,  nothing 
could  be  more  silly  than  to  compare  these,  or  other 
strange  events,  with  the  miracles  of  our  Saviour  and 
his  apostles. 

There  is  nothing  about  them  that  has  even  the  appear- 


NEGLIGENCE  AND  CONTEMPT.  297 

ance  of  a  well-authenticated  miracle,  and  still  they  sur- 
pass, not  only  all  that  the  Mormons  have  claimed  for 
their  apostolic  faith,  holy  oil,  and  holy  hands,  but  all 
they  have  ever  imagined. 

No  Christian  man  will  deny  that  prayer  is  needful 
for  the  sick.  On  the  contrary,  no  human  aid  whatever 
can  restore  them  without  the  divine  blessing.  But 
neither  Smith's  prayer,  nor  that  of  his  followers,  can 
be  of  any  use,  so  long  as  they  sacrilegiously  pretend  to 
the  miraculous  gifts  of  the  Saviour  and  apostles  of  old. 

Yet  tfyese  vile  pretensions  have  been  one  cause  of 
the  spread  of  Mormonism,  which,  all  will  see,  could 
not  have  occurred  had  the  credulity  of  the  people  been 
removed  by  a  proper  knowledge  of  facts.  A  few  facts 
are  sufficient  to  annihilate  at  once  the  wonder  and  the 
faith  of  such  pretensions. 

Another  cause  of  the  success  of  the  Mormons  is,  that 
their  system  has  been  deemed  too  contemptible  to  de- 
serve even  a  serious  notice,  much  less  a  labored  refu- 
tation. This  would  indeed  be  so,  were  it  not  for  the 
fact  that  nothing  is  too  absurd  to  be  believed  by  multi- 
tudes. Most  religious  men  have  acted  upon  the  prin- 
ciple that,  to  notice  them,  would  only  increase  their 
notoriety  and  success.  So  far  as  direct  public  discus- 
sion with  the  Mormons  is  concerned,  this  is  probably 
true  ;  but  can  nothing  be  done  to  save  the  ignorant 
from  their  delusions  ?  We  have  already  neglected 
them  too  long.  Like  noxious  weeds,  when  once  rooted, 
if  they  do  not  live,  their  seed  will  ;  and  our  negligence 
has  probably  furnished  us  with  a  permanent  and  trou- 
blesome element  in  the  republic  for  years  to  come. 

The  cunning  policy  of  the  Mormon  leaders  has  also 
contributed  greatly  to  their  success.     About  one  in  ten 

13* 


298  POLICY  OF  THEIR  LEADERS. 

have  been  commissioned  as  apostles,  teachers,  elders, 
&c.  They  usually  select,  for  their  missions  abroad, 
their  most  devout  men,  who  have  recently  been  prose- 
lyted from  other  churches,  and  who  know,  in  reality, 
as  much  about  Mormonism  as  they  do  about  the  doc- 
trines of  Confucius,  and  no  more.  These  are  kept  on 
the  tramp,  in  quest  of  game.  They  preach  the  doc- 
trines they  held  in  other  churches,  slightly  modified  by 
some  of  their  new  notions  about  literal  interpretation, 
prophecy,  &c,  and  call  it  Mormonism.  Two  objects 
are  thus  accomplished  at  once.  These  most  devotedly 
pious  men  are  sent  forth  to  operate  on  the  religious  sym- 
pathies of  those  churches  which  they  have  left,  and 
from  whom  they  in  reality,  as  yet,  still  differ  but  little. 

Again,  they  are  kept  out  of  sight  of  head-quarters, 
where  they  would  be  in  imminent  danger  of  learning 
too  much  of  Mormonism,  and  consequently  of  aposta- 
tizing from  the  faith,  as  multitudes  have  done,  after  a 
seven  years'  tramp  at  preaching,  so  soon  as  they  had 
time  to  take  breath,  under  the  wing  of  the  prophet,  and 
find  out  what  Mormonism  really  is,  as  held  by  Smith, 
and  taught  and  practised  at  Nauvoo. 

Their  absurd  persecutions,  in  Missouri,  have  also 
tended,  beyond  measure,  to  give  them  credit  and  sym- 
pathy throughout  the  world.  It  seems,  indeed,  like  the 
devil's  own  plan,  not  to  destroy  them,  but  to  save  them 
from  a  ruin  and  contempt  which  otherwise  seemed  in- 
evitable. It  is  hoped  that  others  will  take  lessons  from 
this  advantage,  and  give  it  to  them  no  more.  Justice 
and  expediency  both  demand  a  more  Christian,  a  wiser 
course. 

The  advantages  which  the  Mormons  have  derived 
from  the  existence  and  use  of  sectarian  creeds  and  for- 


POLICY   OF  THEIR  LEADERS.  299 

mulas,  have  already  been  adverted  to.  Indeed,  many 
think  that,  as  Mohammedanism  was  the  scourge  of  God 
wielded  against  ancient  Popery,  so  Mormonism  has 
been  permitted  to  arise  in  modern  times,  to  scourge 
belligerent  sects,  and  pour  contempt  upon  modern  as 
well  as  ancient  dogmatism.  But  time  alone  can  develop 
those  councils  of  the  eternal  Mind,  which  human  sa- 
gacity cannot  comprehend,  much  less  predict. 

There  is,  however,  one  consolation  that  arises  from 
the  contemplation  of  the  errors  and  absurdities  of  all 
ages  and  all  climes.  In  the  great  process  of  raising 
humanity  from  earth  to  heaven,  each  new  experiment 
at  falsehood  leaves  one  less  to  be  tried  ;  and,  since  hu- 
man nature  seems  obstinately  bent  upon  learning  evil 
only  from  actual  experience,  it  is  grateful  to  know  that 
the  fire  which  scorches  one  generation  serves  to  illu- 
mine the  next 

How  many,  or  what  cycles  of  folly  are  still  to  be 
run,  before  mankind  will  be  content,  in  the  simplicity 
of  faith  and  the  perfection  of  reason,  to  take  the  divine 
sermon  on  the  .mount  as  containing  the  fundamental 
truths  of  all  faith,  the  great  constitution  of  Chris- 
tianity, and  sole  chart  of  human  salvation,  as  the  Sa- 
viour of  the  world  himself  solemnly  declared  it  to  be, 
is  known  only  to  him  who  in  mercy  unfolded  this  divine 
chart  to  human  view,  and  whose  province  alone  it  is 
to  bring  "good  out  of  evil,  light  out  of  darkness,  and 
order  out  of  confusion." 

Let  all  our  hearts  ascend  in  fervent  prayer  to  him, 
that  credulity  and  trust  in  man  may  cease,  and  that 
true  faith  in  him  alone  may  increase,  until  the  promised 
hour  of  peace  and  rest  to  wearied,  phrensied  man 
shall  come. 


300  A    WORD    TO    JOSEPH    SMITH,    JUNIOR. 

A    WORD 

TO 

JOSEPH    SMITH,    JUNIOR, 

AT   NAUVOO,   ILLINOIS.  i 


Sir,— 

It  is  my  right,  it  is  the  right  of  every  American  cit- 
izen, of  every  Christian,  of  every  honest  man,  to  ar- 
raign and  resent  the  perfidy  of  your  career.  Others 
have  chosen  to  indicate  their  contempt  both  of  your 
character  and  conduct,  by  silent  neglect.  I  have  pre- 
ferred to  address  you  personally  ;  not  with  the  desire 
of  inflating  your  vanity,  nor  in  expectation  of  con- 
tributing to  your  reform.  The  former  is  needless  ; 
the  latter,  I  fear,  hopeless.  No,  sir ;  were  none  but 
yourself  concerned,  you  might  well  be  left  to  putrefy, 
amid  the  moral  pestilence  which  you  have  produced. 
But  the  misguided  dupes  of  the  conjoint  machinations 
of  yourself  and  your  comrades,  in  mercy,  demand  the 
pity  of  mankind.  I  submit  to  the  ungrateful  task  of 
addressing  you,  only  in  hope  that  thus  I  may  the  bet- 
ter convey  some  benefit  to  then). 

I  have  charitably  and  industriously  sought  from  your 
writings,  and  your  history,  to  find  some  rational 
ground  for  believing  that  you  and  your  comrades  were 
only  a  new  species  of  religious  maniacs.  I  have  sought 
in  vain.     A  man,  however  kindly  disposed  to  think  well 


A    WORD    TO    JOSEPH    SMITH,    JUNIOR.  301 

of  you,  after  a  thorough  examination  of  your  career, 
might  as  well  attempt  to  believe  your  religion  as  to 
regard  you  in  any  other  light  than  that  of  a  deliberate, 
coldblooded,  persevering  deceiver.  I  do  not  pretend 
that,  in  the  outset,  you  even  anticipated  the  final  result. 
On  the  contrary,  there  is  abundant  evidence  that,  at 
first,  your  aims  rose  no  higher  than  those  of  ordinary  va- 
grants and  jugglers.  You  have  not  even  the  poor  merit 
of  either  talent  or  originality.  Your  highest  aim  has 
ever  been  to  crawl  among  the  droves  of  reptile  impos- 
tors who  have  preceded  you ;  and,  though  your  igno- 
rance and  your  utter  incapacity  have  not  suffered  you 
to  turn  aside  from  their  loathsome  track,  your  fortunate 
union  with  others  of  greater  ability,  who  have  entered 
into  your  secrets,  and  the  lamentable  credulity  of  the 
times,  have  enabled  you  to  attain  a  more  signal  and 
desolating  success  than  most  of  your  predecessors. 

You  complain  that  others  have  called  you  an  impos- 
tor and  a  knave.  By  reading  the  preceding  pages,  you 
will  perceive  that  your  recorded  history  proves  you 
such.  You  complain,  also,  of  the  severity  of  those 
whom  you  have  never  injured.  You  mistake.  There 
is  not  a  man  on  the  globe  whom  you  have  not  injured. 
Others  may  have  either  injured  or  insulted  individuals 
or  nations,  but  you  have  at  once  outraged  and  disgra- 
ced human  nature  itself.  Your  creed  informs  us,  that 
there  are  those  for  whom  we  should  not  even  pray. 
Are  you  not,  yourself,  one  of  that  wretched  number  ? 
You  charge  your  early  associates  and  witnesses  to  your 
book  with  the  most  abominable  crimes,  murder  not  ex- 
cepted. Who  led  them  to  the  commission  of  those 
crimes  ?  Who  was  their  first  instigator  ?  Who  first 
corrupted  and  deceived  them,  with  pretended  revela- 


302  A    WORD    TO    JOSEPH    SMITH,    JUNIOR. 

tions  from  God  ?  If  others  doubt,  you  cannot.  Oth- 
ers have  been  guilty  of  theft,  robbery,  arson,  murder, 
&c.  We  are  able  to  convict  and  condemn  them.  Your 
turpitude  differs  from  theirs,  in  the  fact,  that  shielding 
yourself  behind  the  pretended  favor  of  the  Deity,  you 
are  enabled,  as  all  impostors  before  you  have  been, 
with  singular  safety  and  facility,  to  commit  all  crimes 
by  a  single  act. 

If  you  are,  or  ever  have  been,  persecuted  for  your 
opinions,  as  you  absurdly  complain,  so  are  they.  If 
you  have  a  right  to  rob  by  imposture  unmolested, 
they  have  a  right  to  do  the  same  by  force.  If  it  is 
persecution  to  arraign  them,  it  is  persecution  to  do  the 
same  to  you. 

It  is  not  your  peculiar  opinions,  as  you  well  know, 
but  your  impious  pretensions,  which  honest  and  Chris- 
tian men  reject,  with  loathing  and  abhorrence.  On 
the  contrary,  many  doubt  whether  you  really  have  any 
religious  opinions  at  all.  They  doubt  whether  you 
even  believe  in  the  existence  of  a  Supreme  Being. 

You  and  your  associates  are  fond  of  smooth  talk,  and 
of  what  you  call,  and  what,  in  fact,  in  other  cases, 
would  be  kind  and  gentlemanly  discussion.  Such  kind 
of  language,  experience  proves,  can  neither  benefit  you 
nor  your  followers.  It  only  inflates  your  vanity,  and 
encourages  you  in  your  career  of  infamy.  You  can 
have  no  such  language  from  me.  You  need  the  lan- 
guage of  justice,  of  rebuke,  and  not  of  compassion  ; 
and  even  those  who  pity  you  most,  and  would  labor 
most  for  your  reform,  should  at  present  hold,  toward 
you  no  other  language  than  that  which  adequately 
presents  both  your  turpitude  and  your  crimes,  if,  in- 
deed, language  is  adequate  to  the  task. 


A    WORD    TO    JOSEPH    SMITH,    JUNIOR.  308 

But  many  of  your  followers  are  a  pious,  honest,  in- 
dustrious, and  well-meaning,  though  awfully  deluded 
people.  It  is  for  them  I  feel  compassion.  To  treat 
you  with  even  ordinary  respect,  is  to  treat  them  with 
the  most  wanton  and  unfeeling  cruelty.  They  have, 
with  a  noble  and  generous  enthusiasm,  worthy,  indeed, 
of  a  better  cause,  sacrificed,  or  rather  prostituted,  their 
all  to  you.  Abandoning  home,  faith,  country,  and 
friends,  they  have  encountered  hardship,  famine,  pesti- 
lence, and  death.  Their  blood  has  flowed  like  water ; 
their  wives  and  children  have  been  abused,  beaten, 
massacred,  exiled,  frozen,  and  starved,  by  lawless  men, 
on  your  account. 

You  told  them  it  was  the  cause  of  God.  You  knew 
it  was  not.  While  you  and  your  comrades  are  still 
fattening  in  indolence,  on  the  spoils  of  these  outrages, 
and  adding  still  to  their  number,  do  you  dare  to  claim 
from  me,  or  any  other  man  who  knows  the  facts,  the 
honeyed  words  of  Christian  love,  or  the  polished  speech 
of  even  ordinary  civility  and  kindness  ?  You  will  not 
have  it.  "  Wo  unto  you,  scribes  and  Pharisees,  hypo- 
crites !"  I  doubt  not  would  be  the  language  of  the  di- 
vine and  compassionate  Saviour  of  men  himself,  were 
he  upon  earth  to  address  you  in  your  present  condition 
and  character. 

Think  of  your  hypocrisy,  your  turpitude,  and,  if 
possible,  repent  and  turn  from  the  ruin  within  and 
around  you.  Your  followers,  many  of  them,  may  be 
deceived.  They  doubtless  are.  You  are  not.  You 
know  better.  If,  then,  you  care  not  for  your  own  salva- 
tion, care,  at  least,  for  the  good  of  those  thousands  who 
have  so  generously,  and  still  so  stupidly,  perilled  their 
all   for  vou.     Could  it  be  believed  that  vou  are  still 


304  A    WORD    TO    JOSEPH    SMITH,    JUNIOR. 

within  the  reach  of  heaven's  grace,  good  men  might 
be  invited  to  pray  for  that  grace  on  your  behalf.  That 
it  may  at  least  reach,  and  illuminate,  and  save  your  de- 
luded followers,  is  doubtless  the  sincere  prayer  of  every 
Christian  heart,  awake  to  the  ruin  which  you  have  ac- 
complished upon  them. 

To  such  a  desire  you  may  attribute  this  letter,  and 
the  pages  which  precede  it.  That  it  may,  with  the 
blessing  of  God,  reclaim  some  from  their  adherence  to 
Mormonism,  and  prevent  others  from  rushing  into  its 
senseless  and  debasing  absurdities,  is  the  earnest  prayer 
of  the  Author. 


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